Book Club Chef ~ By my Guest Simran

This is the beginning of my celebrations for reaching 200 blog posts.... A lot of you will wonder, this is not your 200th post, so why the excitement.... Nope it's not... But getting to the 200th post has been a journey full of wonderful people who walked with me in life and some joined me thru the blog world...

So I thought of having an event called 'Celebrations' where I would open out my blog to some of my friends who would share some parts of their journey with me as Guest Posts......

Simran of Bombay Foodie is my guest today. She's recently completed her 300th post. Her pictures on Flickr. I was introduced to her blog thru some referring links and then met her thru Shaheen of Purplefoodie in Mumbai for an 'Upper Crust Food n Wine Event'. She's such a sweet person with a great hand in the kitchen n an imagination i like. She part of a club 'This Book Makes Me Cook' where they make something which draws inspiration from the book of the month. You can see Simran's creations here. She's done 26 till now... Quite a mean feat. My fav ones are 'A Harry Potter Special' and 'Alice in Wonderland'. I got inspired by this thought and made 'Hoopoe Lemon Cake inspired by Haroun n the Sea of Stories'.

This girl is so talented... She made amazing desserts like Cherry Tart, Macarons, Bakewell Tart, Almond Cake, Jammies, Coffee Cake, Fudgy Brownie Icecream, Phirni, Healthy Cake, Strawberry and Apple Jam, Chocolate Sandesh Truffles, Strawberry Cheesecake.

Her Indian repertoire has Corn Rice, Pao Bhaji, Sabudana Khichdi, Dhokla, Egg Korma, Sago Pops, Dosa, Healthy Spinach Rice, Appams with Sambar, Lima Beans Curry, Chegodilu, Pickle, Chana Haryali and Nariyal Burfi with a citrusy twist.

She love Italian and makes Veg Pizza, Mushroom and Mint Risotto, Tomato and Basil Sauce, Risotto Primavera, Rugelach, Spinach Risotto, Macaroni in Spinach Sauce, Sweetcorn Risotto, Focaccia, Mushroom and Capsicum Pizza, Mushroom Cream Pizza.
A girl who makes bread... really knows her oven... Wheat Bread, Herb Rolls, Carrot Herb Rolls, Gougeres, Cinnamon Rolls, Sourdough Success, Rye Bread.
She loves Sushi and has made Avocado and Corn Sushi, Nasi Goreng, Egg Salad Sandwich, Zucchini Caponata.
As a Daring Baker she would make me so curious with her updates when I wasn't part of this group and then come up with amazing stuff like Milanos, Dobos Torte, Nanaimo Bars, Tiramisu.
Her salads and soups are interesting like Chickpea Salad, Forbidden Rice Salad, Warm Potato and Bean Salad, Corn and Bean Salad, Corn Salsa, French Onion Soup, Mushroom Soup and Bean Soup.
Her smoothies are comforting and fruity.

A small something for the Indian readers of Simran... She will select 1 lucky commenter to win complimentary meal vouchers from Sushi at Moets, Defence Colony, New Delhi. So be sure to leave a note at the end of this post with your location. Readers in other countries can share the same with anyone in proximity of the bar.

Simran Writes.....

A few months back, I walked into a food show to see a chef demonstration, watch a top chef cookoff, maybe buy a few select hard-to-buy ingredients. As I settled into the Italian food demonstration, purplefoodie introduced me to a cute, bubbly blogger visiting from Delhi. I instantly remembered Nachiketa from a post Deeba did about a visitor to her home, who took over her kitchen with her charm and her enthusiasm to learn cake decorating. She, on the other hand, recalled spotting my blog when I made the playing card cake in honor of Alice in Wonderland.

We bonded over pasta at a counter selling olive oil; a shared brownie. Nachiketa introduced me to a specialty chicken, then joined me on my quest for rice vinegar. Since then, I’ve become a big fan of Nachiketa’s way of baking – she bakes for friends, to make people happy on their birthdays, for countless aunts and cousins – all evidenced by beautiful, happy pictures. And you can't help grinning at yet another story of Daksayani, the cutest little sous chef in the whole world.

Then last week, Nachiketa asked if I will do a guest post for her; a run-up to her 200th post. I asked her what she would like me to bake. And all she wanted was something pretty that reflects me. Instead, I wanted to bake something that reflects Nachiketa, something full of happiness and sunshine. I picked Lime and Poppy Seed Muffins from baking bites.

There’s a bit of prep work here but the rest of the recipe is very easy once you get through it. First off, take one egg out of fridge so it’s a little less cold by the time you assemble everything. Melt 60 grams butter in the microwave and let it cool. Zest a lime. You need ½ tbsp of zest, and it was super easy in my case with my microplane and giant seedless limes I found last weekend. Then juice the limes to give you 1/3 cup lime juice (I only needed one of my giant limes, believe it or not!). Mix together 1 cup flour with ½ tsp each of baking powder and baking soda.

Beat ½ cup sugar with the egg. Whisk in melted but cool butter, lime zest and lime juice. Mix 1 tsp poppy seeds to the flour mixture, then add the liquid ingredients and whisk until everything’s combined and no streaks of flour remain. Pour into six muffin cups and bake at 190C for around 20 minutes. The flavor is very zingy, limes being more tart than lemons, but the sugar balances it out nicely. And with the crunch of poppy seeds, a lovely mix of flavors.

I wish I could send these to Nachiketa for real. Maybe on my next Delhi trip...