*Crazy Over Desserts: 200th Post Celebrations

Showing posts with label 200th Post Celebrations. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Egg-less Coffee Walnut Cake Trifle ~ By my Guest Suma

My guest today is Suma of Cakes and More. She says in her introduction that she is 'A hardcore foodie with an incorrigible sweet tooth - thatz me! Have started baking a couple of year's ago and am loving every moment of baking,learning by trial and error, researching on the net on cakes, baking and cake-decoration in particular' and let me tell you... every word is true.

What I really like about her is her willingness to share and grow as a community. She's even written a post about Baking Supplies, Baking Ingredients In Bangalore and another one on 'Institute Of Baking and Cake Art - A Discovery!!!'. It's rare to come across such nice people, and when I do... I cherish n treasure them :)

She has a knack for creating yummy 'Any Time Treats'. I loved her Fresh toast with a citrus twist.

She started in Jan 2010, with a lovely cake for her daughter Aditi, saying "Having two hyper active kids,juggling part-time office work and school home work,a passion for food comes as a delicious respite. Cooking is something I find extremely satisfying - gastronomically and otherwise. I keep finding new excuses to call someone over for cold coffee and sandwiches, freeze a cake ice cream for a rainy-oops-sunny day:-)),make some extra cake just in case my kids( read I ) feel like having a cake fudge, give just one more try to get the chocolate cigars right. Food is on my mind 24/7,food is a big part of my life - You get the picture." We totally get the picture Suma and love the colours you've filled in it... :)

She's got 93 posts done in some 9 months.... that's over 10 posts in a month... totally awesome regularity :)

Wasn't able to write posts for a while due to some life situations..... n Suma was just so totally supportive throughout n very understanding..... Thanks for being there...

A small something for the Indian readers of Suma.... She will select 1 lucky commenter to win complimentary vouchers of Choko La(You can get your fill of chocolates at this place), in Vasant Vihar, 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 restaurant.

Suma Writes.....

'A cheerful vivacious extrovert, fun to be with - this is how Nachiketa describes herself. A very apt description indeed!! Though I have never met her in person, this is exactly how she comes across as. The profusion of cheerful pictures on her blog and the number of smiling faces in them a testimony to the same. Her way of striking up an instant camaraderie with people makes them feel like they are speaking to a person they know since ages. I can imagine the infectious energy she would be bringing in anywhere she goes. I envy her colleagues who probably spend a lot of time with her and also get to feast on the desserts which she dishes up ever so often.

The kind of person who would dare the blues to hit her. Come blues and she would probably chase it away with yet another dessert. Who can think of making Sugar-free Brownies as 'prashad'. Lol!! Am sure the diabetic and weight-watching folks are not complaining :-) The fact that she is dessert crazy is one of things which make me relate to her, being the incorrigible dessert-loving person I am myself. The urge to keep on trying out new desserts, specially baked ones - yes that's all too familiar to me.

She wouldn't mind staying up till the wee hours of the morning baking a whopping 265 muffins and...neither.. would... I.. or would I?? Given that I would have to deal with 2 hyper active kids, work and a household to run when I wake up. Hahaha!! This footloose and fancy free girl is sure having her share of fun - baking, blogging and spreading the cheer around. What better way to do it than food and desserts at that!! Do you detect a trace of envy here?? You bet, I envy her and envy her and envy her!!!

Keep up the spirit Nachiketa!!

I got a call from Nachiketa a couple of weeks ago with regard to a guest post on her blog as a celebration of completing 200 posts. Thank you so very much for giving me this opportunity Nachiketa!

I was all game for it and it had to be a dessert of course. Here comes a simple, yet satisfying, quick and easy trifle just for you Nachiketa! Layers of coffee cake and cream with the crunch of walnuts thrown in for good measure.

Egg-less Coffee Walnut Cake Trifle

This easy- to- put- together dessert can of course be made with any cake, here I have used an egg-less cake adapted from a Tarla Dalal recipe. The recipe goes like this

Ingredients for the cake
Plain Flour -3/4 Cup
Sugar (powdered) 1/3 cup
Baking soda - 1/4 tsp
Instant coffee - 1 teaspoon dissolved in 1/4 cup hot water( keep the water hot). Use only hot water if you want a plain cake
Melted butter -1/4 cup
Sour curd - 2 Tbsp
Vanilla essence - 1/2 teaspoon
Walnuts, Chopped - 1/4 Cup

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees centigrade. Grease and line a 7'' diameter cake tin.

Sieve the flour. Keep aside. Mix the soda bicarb and curd in a bowl and keep aside. Combine the butter, sugar and hot water mixed with the coffee in a mixing bowl. Add the flour mixture, curds and vanilla essence and mix gently. Fold in the chopped walnuts. Pour the batter into the cake tin. Bake for 30 minutes or till a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool the cake in the tin for 10 minutes, remove the cake and cool on a cooling rack.

Once completely cool, slice the cake horizontally into two slices. Cut small circles using a cookie cutter. Keep aside.

Sugar Syrup:
Water 1/4 cup with 1tsp sugar( you may need more syrup if using a dry sponge)
A drop of vanilla essence. Mix everything and refrigerate till needed.

Whipping Cream : 3/4 Cup(I have used sweetened whipping cream)
Grated Dark Chocolate for garnish.

Chill the cream, the bowl and the beaters for at least an hour. Whip the cream to a soft peak stage over a bowl of ice, for approximately 5-6 minutes. Fill the cream in a piping bag with a coupler, NO nozzle.

To Assemble:
Arrange the cake circles at the bottom of the glasses.(Push in gently to fit, with a spoon if needed). Brush the sugar syrup lightly over the cake. Pipe some cream over the cake. Repeat the process with more more cake circles, sugar syrup and cream ending with the cream. Garnish with grated dark chocolate and chill for at least 4-5 hours before serving.

Friday, September 3, 2010

Celebrations ~ By My Guest Pushpanjali

My guest today is Pushpanjali. She is such a sweet n unassuming person, she's a delight to be around. I got to know her as she's Vivek's wife. Vivek is one of my first mentors at Infoedge[my office].
She loves animals and the doggy-love of her life is 'Princess' and she's rightly called that.

Had made Banoffee Pie for her last birthday and Pineapple Upside down cake for Vivek's birthday. Made Banana Chocolate Upside Down Cake for their house warming party, also planned were some Orange Cookies and made one for Princess too but alas, they burnt to cinders while I was on the phone making the evening program..... just didn't have the time to make another batch. It just has to be the cake then....

We are such foodies.... We had a blast eating from 11am to 5pm at Chandni Chowk.... Our gleeful smiles say it all.....

A small something for the Indian readers of Pushpanjali.... She will select 1 lucky commenter to win complimentary vouchers of Lazeez Affaire in Malcha Marg, 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 restaurant.

Pushpanjali Writes.....

I have known Nachi since past several years & the first thing that people associate with her is her super cool baking abilities but there is something else that really stands out to me is her sense of style.

Nachiketa Chandra,from the many parties I have attended with her,have realized is a very stylish lady who picks & chooses her clothes meticulously. Her style compliments her personality-bright, vivacious,ultra chic... She is one of those rare persons who remains in our minds long after the party is over. I remember my housewarming party... hundreds of guests...but the only one who remains in our mind is Ms N...with her Monroe cut hair & her absolutely ravishing dress. Another party with a theme of 'Red-n-White' stands out is Ms N's red shoes perfectly matched with her dress for her birthday!!!

There is no set formula for style... either u have it or u dont & Nachi for sure has a great great sense of style.Her well matched accessories & shoes add to the glam & believe me...she has an amazing collection of shoes!!! WHERE DO U GET THEM FROM???

Nachi, we have spent a lot of time together...love yr desserts,love going on trips together,admire yr spirit but one thing that I would steal from you are your dresses & your bag of shoes!!!

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Healthy Mushroom Pasta ~ By my Guest Gauri

My guest today is Gauri, a friend from office who can get any client to do anything she wants with a huge smile and amazing persuasion skills.

She's a huge foodie at heart.... We both love chocolates, sweets and momos..... We'd eat loads of them every evening in office... and loads of foodie conversations shared over more food.... :)

She's a person of varied moods and facets.... Her bright smile is enough to light up an entire room.... We had such a blast on our Bhimtal trip....

A small something for the Indian readers of Gauri.... She will select 1 lucky commenter to win complimentary vouchers of Moksha, a cozy lounge in New Friends 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 restaurant.

Gauri Writes.....

Nachiketa or Nachi as we all call her, is a fun-loving and always on the top of the world. She is the one you can look up to for any kind of professional or personal help. She will help you if you are right but in case she feels that you are wrong, she will make you run, center right and left. I know her now for almost 4 yrs. We are both working for 99acres, She is creative and always on her toes to make some innovation in Product team, and I am the one who sells her ideas being in the sales team of 99acres.

At this Platform, I want to congratulate you on your 200th Blog Post as well as igniting my passion for cooking. As they say, The Way to a man's heart is through his stomach, so is working for me too ;-) lol...

It has been 1.5yrs since I got married. My Husband is a big foodie and loves variety when it comes to food. Am always trying to find easy recipes that don't have a million ingredients yet taste like you spent hours and hours preparing in the kitchen. Passion for cooking was always latent in me but couldn’t take out much time for it. It all started at Nachiketa’s Birthday party this year. She was a gracious host and had done a lot of preparation for the party. We had an awesome lunch at her place. The time we said our goodbyes, I was so sure that my husband will tell me to learn a few recipes from he, and here it was…… as soon as we sat in the car, even before he started the car engine the demands for Pasta, cheese cake and other Dips served by Nachiketa started pouring in.

So I tried first with her no-bake strawberry cheesecake. It came out really yummy so next I tried white sauce Pasta, which is my weakness too :) and to be very honest was the quickest and easiest of all.

I took a rough idea from her as in how to go about it, what all ingredients would be required for the same. I had done some alterations in the same, I tried making the Pasta with No Cheese and NO Cream at all…….Absolute Diet conscious but yet tasty Pasta.
At first the sauce tastes sort of yucky when you are heating it, but after it is cooked and completely done, the sauce is absolutely 'to-die -for!!

A super easy, ultra tasty recipe that calls for a packet of herbs[Basil/Oregano/Sage/Thyme], Wheat Pasta, Mushrooms and Milk for the Sauce.

Mushroom Pasta

Ingredients:
2 spoons olive oil
4 Packets Mushrooms
2 Glasses Milk[luke warm]
2 cloves garlic
2 teaspoon of herbs[You may vary as per taste]
250 Grams Wheat Pasta
Salt to taste

To start with boil water with a pinch of salt and 1 table spoon cooking oil, when it comes to boil, put all the Pasta in it and let it cook for 20 minutes. When it is done, drain the extra water and wash the Pasta in cold Water and keep it aside to be used later.

For the sauce, Put 1 teaspoon olive oil in a pan and cook for about 15 – 20 minutes finely chopped mushrooms, add a pinch of salt it will be done faster, don’t add water since Mushrooms will leave water and will be cooked in the same itself.

Once done keep it aside to cool, and make a fine thick puree of the same without adding water in the Grinder. You can keep a few slices of cooked mushrooms aside to be used like that.

In another Pan, Put 1 teaspoon in the Pan and add 2 teaspoons of the herbs along with lots of finely chopped garlic, sauté for 5 minutes till it is cooked, remember we don’t have to turn it golden brown like we do for North Indian Dishes as we don’t want to loose its essence.

Now its time to add puree of the cooked mushrooms, add finely chopped and cooked mushrooms 1 small portion along with the puree in the Pan.

Let it cook for 5 minutes now add 1-1.5 glass of luke warm Milk in the Pan, add salt to taste and cook for 15 – 20 minutes.

Once the sauce is cooked, you can add the cooked pasta in the same and serve Hot along with Garlic Bread.

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Thoughts about Old Treatises on Food and Cooking ~ By My Guest Sid (Chef at Large)

My guest today is Sid of Chef at Large fame. He's done software for 18 years and gave it up to pursue his hobby of 'Food' fulltime. He's reviewed 177 restaurants in Delhi NCR, posted 223 recipes on chefatlarge.in between him n his contributors as I write. He sums up the space of ChefatLarge on facebook really well saying "We talk about food, share food experiences and recipes, go out together... essentially have a really nice time with all aspects of food. :) Plus a few giveaways every now and then, some random, some with contests... food nonetheless. :D"

Sid had given my reference to The Shangri-La for a tasting table at 19 Oriental Avenue. This was our first meeting... was very memorable one with his special card trick[I won't give away what it is... ask him when you meet him :) ] and all the chatter about food....

He became my tester for a new recipe of Sugarfree Cherry Brownies. We would interact often on facebook. His photography skills are quite something. His food pictures make me droooolll... and A special set was the one where he was experimenting with HDR... Awesome, turned a simple olive oil condiment set into something so exotic that it made me not just droooool but also begin writing a food story...... :) His breakfast album on facebook made me crave for breakfast at lunch, dinner and breakfast...

Here's some more eye candy of his clicks for food lovers....

We met at a Wonton making class and special lunch organized by Intercontinental Eros and a few days later at Chocolate making workshop there itself.

A small something for the Indian readers of Sid.... He will select 1 lucky commenter to win complimentary vouchers of Stone, Moets Restaurant Complex in Defence Colony Market, 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 restaurant.

Sid Writes.....

Writing a guest post isn't half as tough as it seems to be. It's double! For one, you're acutely aware you're writing as a 'guest' on someone elses blog. You want to be polite, interesting, relevant and all those other politically correct and nice things that you wouldn't normally think about when writing on your own blog. What makes it a little tougher is the certain knowledge that Ms. Chandra will without doubt turn up her pretty nose and say, 'This sucks! What were you thinking?', without it giving another thought. Frankness IMHO is overrated... but Nachiketa manages to get away with the most atrocious statements without causing the least offence.

On the subject of frankness, I know this chap who every now and then starts off with, "If I can be blunt with you", and then says something wildly offensive, something that gets you goggle eyed and mad. But then he did mention the disclaimer before gushing his unique brand of insightful honesty. I'm sure there are others in my shoes, figuratively speaking, who aren't sure about what to write and don't want to risk offending The Wrathful Nachiketa by refusing or begging off. Perhaps a little something that would provide inspiration to those poor souls, caught between the Nachiketa and a hard place, risking eternal damnation by not writing a guest post.

BTW I met Nachiketa through a giveaway on Deeba's blog. She's one of the bubbliest people I've ever met and her her energy levels are... infectious to say the least. Congratulations Nachiketa on your 200th post. It's a good thing, nice feeling and great going girl!

Perhaps I'll just share my current obsession, old treatises on food and cooking. It is really so very interesting to find and read old cooking related texts. Most provide a great deal of insight into the general beliefs at the time. For example, The 'Boke of Kervynge' published in 1508, says, '... beware of grene sallettes & rawe fruytes for they wyll make our soverayne seke ...' or 'Beware of green salads and raw fruits for they will make your master sick'. It also has some very interesting recipes like:

Wynge that partryche.
Take a partryche and reyse his legges and his wynges as a henne / & ye mynce hym sauce hym with wyne poudre of gynger & salte / than set it upon a chaufyng-dysshe of coles to warme and serve it.

Then there are the recipe books from more recent times. One book I always remember is 'Good Things to Eat' by Rufus Estes, published in 1911. In his introduction Rufus writes, 'I was born in Murray County, Tennessee, in 1857, a slave. I was given the name of my master, D. J. Estes, who owned my mother's family, consisting of seven boys and two girls, I being the youngest of the family.'. Here's Rufus' recipe for Asparagus Soup:

ASPARAGUS SOUP
Take three pounds of knuckle of veal and put it to boil in a gallon of water with a couple of bunches of asparagus, boil for three hours, strain, and return the juice to the pot. Add another bunch of asparagus, chopped fine, and boil for twenty minutes, mix a tablespoonful of flour in a cup of milk and add to the soup. Season with salt and pepper, let it come to a boil, and serve at once.

A recent addition to my collection is 'The Khaki Kook Book', published in 1917, that describes itself as '[a] Collection of a hundred cheap and practical recipes mostly from Hindustan', written by Mary Kennedy Core during her time in Bareilly, India. She begins with her thoughts on Indian kitchens...

Perhaps she might do some of it if she had an up-to-date little kitchen, with linoleum on the floor, if there were a sink and a gas range, and all sorts of lovely pots and pans, but alas! in India there is not even a kitchen. It is a cook-house, and is quite detached from the rest of the house. If she cooked there, the missionary lady would have to keep running back and forth in the hot sun or in the pouring rain of the monsoon. There is no linoleum--only a damp, uneven stone floor, and there is no sink--all the work requiring water is done on the floor by a drain-pipe, and sometimes if the screen gets broken over the mouth of the drain-pipe, toads come hopping in, and sometimes even cobras come squirming through. The Indian cook-house is always dark and smoky. There is no little gas range; just a primitive cooking place made of bricks plastered together. This contains a number of holes in which are inserted grates. Charcoal fires are burning in these little grates. Charcoal has to be fanned and fanned with a black and grimy fan to get it into the glowing stage. Of course a clean fan would do as well, but one never sees a clean fan in an Indian cook-house.

... and continues on to some recipes, one of which I cooked for lunch yesterday - Beef Curry.

Cut a pound of fresh beef into bits. Any cheap cut does well for this. Slice an onion very thinly, and fry together in a dessert-spoonful of fat of any kind, the meat, onion, and two teaspoonfuls of curry powder. When they are nicely browned add several cups of water and simmer gently until the meat is very tender and the onion has become a pulp, thereby thickening the curry gravy. This requires long, slow cooking. More water may be added from time to time. If one has a fireless cooker, it should always be used in curry making. Serve with rice prepared according to taste. In India, curry and rice are always served in separate dishes. The rice is served first and the curry taken out and put over it. Usually chutney (Chapter VIII) is eaten with curry and rice.

(Spanish Rice from a 1905 recipe and Curried Beef from a 1912 recipe.)

When you begin to get obsessed with all things old and edible, as I have, then other little bits of information begin exposing themselves to you, such as this letter, written in 1556 by Jacob Bifrons about cheese and cheese making in Switzerland. It begins with:

My son, returning to Curia in Pontissella, told me you suggested that I should write to you about the ways of cheesemaking and the types of cheese of our region. This I now do most willingly, and I hope that this will be pleasing to you. There are two types of cheese which concern us; one lean and called 'domestic' since it is made both in the house and in the Alps and its use goes back before the memory of man. The other type is called 'fat' cheese and it was brought from Italy into our region in the last 30 years.

Books such as 'The Forme of Cury', which was published around 1780 and compiled around 1390 were written as historical compilations in their own time and provide a storehouse of information, as do books like 'The Accomplisht Cook' published in 1685, that has a recipe quite similar to one in The Boke of Kervynge. Being a copycat in 1685 must have been so much simpler than it is now. For the authors part, he was replicating a recipe from a book that was nearly two hundred years old. Considering the expensive nature of books at the time, there was probably little chance of being caught out. It also clearly illustrates the changes that took place in the English language over a period of about 180 years.

Wing that Partridg.
Raise his legs, and his wing as a hen, if you mince him sauce him with wine, powder of ginger, and salt, and set him upon a chafing dish of coals to warm and serve.

I could go on and on, on this sort of thing. Suffice to say, we can greatly increase our understanding of food and the culinary arts by delving into the past. In fact, that's the easy way out, because food today didn't just become the way it is out of the blue. It evolved. It was gradually influenced by history, politics, the military and geography among other factors to reach the state it is in today. What better way to understands it's path than to obtain and read books such as these?

Friday, August 27, 2010

Rummmmmmy.... Coffee Cinnamon Rum Cake ~ By my Guest Radhika

My guest today Radhika, met her while doing my MBA.... She's such a lively person with an amazing sense of humour.

For her birthday I made 'Sugarfree Cherry Brownies'. We had such a blast at Hard Rock cafe, having met after a while as we had all gotten busy with work. The fun we have together just cannot be put down in words.

We met for lunch to welcome the new year and ended up having coffee [how can we talk about rads and not mention C-O-F-F-E-E :), rads should have been born in Ghana on a coffee plantation] at Tea leaf n Coffee bean.....
I just wouldn't let them eat/drink anything the whole afternoon, till I was done clicking. Yes, I admit, am an incurable 'Foodus Bloggerus'. [If you dine with us, you’ll learn the art of patience. Yes we even want to photograph the bread and butter. Food is better a bit colder right? Or so we’d like to convince you.
This is something most people complain of when they go out with us..... They're getting familiar with this symptom now... Like they have a choice lol.. ;-) ]

A small something for the Indian readers of Radhika.... She will select 1 lucky commenter to win complimentary vouchers of Route 04, a diner tucked away in Khan Market, 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 restaurant.

Radhika Writes.....

On the of 200th post on Nachiketa’s Crazy over Desserts, a small tribute to the Woman behind those gorgeous lip smacking desserts...:-)

As All Never-Ending Stories ‘Begin....

Once upon a time, there lived a princess (that’s ME!!) who thought she had met all genres of mankind and couldn’t be surprised out of her Nikes anymore. Little did she know, that 2001 would be the year when she would meet one of the most intriguing, beguiling and infuriating Soul that God ever created [He never did have the strength I guess to try to replicate it ;-) ]

As the princess walked into her very first class of International Business in the “renowned” Amity B. School, she felt like someone was Tap dancing over her grave. But as soon as she glanced around, shared a few smiles and kind words with an Enigma known to the world as Nachiketa Chandra, the world weary princess(ME) knew she still has a lot to learn in the art of living :)

“Nachi Maa” as she is fondly known by everyone in Amity who adores this hyperactive, loud voiced and stubborn woman is one of the few friends I am lucky to have in my life for close to 10 years now. Full of energy that can give Sun a run for its money, more stubborn than a mule and supportive to the end is what makes Nachi someone that you love to hate and hate to love ;-) She was the one who talked me (more like coerced me) into wearing a SAREE for a Managing Self presentation so that our group can give a professional front, never forgotten the sheer fear of trying not to fall flat on my face while talking about “Managing Self”!!!!

Right from the days of browbeating some special few like Shuchi, Kanika, Surbhi and me to prepare notes in the library before exams, to encouraging me and Shuchi to give a stint in the kitchen, it’s been a rollercoaster journey throughout!

I have this habit (bad?) of penning down my emotions, especially when I feel that I'm falling into the dark abyss of nothingness and despair. Nachi and Shuchi have always been my truest critics and have always encouraged me to let go through my writing, even though it’s bad enough not to be even tagged as “Writing” at times.

So Nachi, I herby dedicate this emotional torture that I penned down to you... for this is what you are to me! Love you loads! God Bless u always!

F.R.I.E.N.D.S

As We Travel Down The Mysterious Road Called Life,
Often We Come Across Lives That Touch Us Deep Inside...
Guiding Us Through The Mystifying Paths Of Love Lost And Broken Hearts,
Helping Us Get Back On Our Feet As We Stumble Down in Self Doubt…
Protecting Us Against The Torrent Storms Of Failures And Misgivings..
A Shield of Strength and Full of Selfless Giving..
These Blessed Souls…Whom We Meet In Our Journey..
Might Get Separated At Crossroads of Time,
But They Leave A Poignant Print in Our Thoughts and Mind..
For They Know You Better Than You Know Yourself,
And Would Always Be A Part of Your Innermost Self...
That’s Why They Are Called Friends…

After taking a VRS (temporarily), after slogging nonstop for 6.5 years, due to a back problem, I was left twirling my thumbs with sheer boredom with my first and only love, novels, also not engaging my grey cells for long! I started visiting Nachi’s blog more often and was inspired to try some quickie cake baking in the microwave. I baked a “Coffee Cinnamon Rum Cake” as my first attempt which turned out to be as how first attempts often do, edible but not as appealing to the eye. In walked Nachi with her taste buds and mind filled with ideas of how to present it better. She didn’t let me give up my futile attempts at baking, much to the dismay of my family members who are the first ones to suffer every time I experiment in the kitchen :)

Microwave Coffee Cake

Ingredients:

Self rising flour/maida- 1 cup
Milk- 1/4 cup
Brown Sugar- 3/4 cup
Butter,softened- 3/4 cup
Instant coffee- 3 tablespoon
Boiling water- 1 tablespoon
Baking powder- 1 teaspoon
Eggs- 2
Vanilla essence- 2 tablespoon

[Substitutions I made- Instead of vanilla essence, added 1 tablespoon of cocoa + 1/2 teaspoon of Cinnamon Powder. Also, added a splash of spiced rum, one can use any dark rum or even sherry would do]

Method:
Preheat the oven at 180 c
Grease and line an 8' round cake tin
Sift Flour and Baking powder, Cocoa and Cinnamon Powder twice and keep aside.
Dissolve Instant Coffee in the water.
Cream butter and sugar till fluffy.
Add eggs 1 by 1, beating well.
Add rum and mix.
Alternatively add flour and milk to the mix, beginning and ending with flour.
Pour in greased tin and bake for 30-35 minutes
MICROWAVE- 80% for 8 minutes as per the recipe.
[My variation: baked at 180 c in convection mode for 25 minutes.]

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Lite recipes for right health! Colorful Bell Pepper & Sprouts Salad ~ By My Guest Sanjeeta KK

She has easy vegetarian recipes where taste matters but health is the driving force behind all her dishes. Not to forget the wonderful pictures.
Her Baking Bites are quite a bytefull..... :) Who thought festive eating can have healthy options too... Step in Sanjeeta with Festive Bites. Checkout her Wholewheat Halwa yummy.... I want some now....

Planning for the lunchbox is a perennial thought that haunts all mothers, be it for their kids[Mine still has nightmares] or the husbands. She make it all so simple with Lunchbox Bites.

We had this interesting exchange:
Nachiketa: What's the source of this information, some study or practical experience. Would like to mention that in the article to make it more credible. Have you actually used the points you've mentioned for weight loss?
Sanjeeta:Source of information is practical experience. I am 40+ now and am glad that the points in the article did help me look and stay trim and fit.

Had me in splits... so much for sources... mummies know best, I give in.... Bow Down....
Afterall it was my mom who turned my diet around and sister insisting on exercising which helped me to Minus 17 kgs.... :)

The most true and striking thing Sanjeeta says is "Cooking is an art which comes to you only when YOU hold a ladle. A great chef is not born but is made gradually after a series of hits & trials and chaos in her/his kitchen.
Be ready to experiment, innovate and put in that extra effort to make your loved ones feel special."

A small something for the Indian readers of Sanjeeta KK.... She will select 1 lucky commenter to win complimentary vouchers of elemenation, Sector 62, Noida, for massage n Spa, Salsa or Kick-Boxing or Yoga, 50% discount of Gym membership. 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 restaurant.

Sanjeeta KK Writes.....

First and foremost I take the opportunity to thank Nachiketa the author of this wonderful blog www.crazyoverdesserts.com for inviting me here.
Blogging is that magnificent platform through which we all are connected to each other, a medium where we share our common passion for food and bound together.

Since we are connected to each other with food and cuisine, I thought of sharing my views on food and health.
Ideas, some of which make sense while some other may sound weird. But rest assured it helps me staying trim and fit.

1. Drink lots of water before eating, preferably cold water it reduces hunger.
2. Avoid eating in groups, as you tend to eat more while talking with others.
3. Stock lots of fruits and keep munching as and when you feel, will make you feel satiated and eat less.
4. Make crunchy salads with interesting dressings and nibble on it during lunch and dinnertime.
5. I like to boil fresh corn and keep munching on it the whole day. It will give you the feeling of satiation besides loads of health benefits.
6. Nuts are a good bet provided you know the limit; else you will gain extra calories.
7. Lazy & depressed mind tend to indulge in food. Keep yourself busy in some kind of activities such as gardening, stitching etc.
8. Last but not the least is to have a dream and keep chasing it. Makes you content (mind, body and stomach too).

Here is a quick and refreshing recipe for a healthy salad. I make it often and keep nibbling it as and when I am hungry.

Colorful Bell Pepper & Sprouts Salad

Ingredients;

Legumes:
1 cup of Black eyed Beans
1 cup of Black Channa

Multi color Bell pepper
Salt as desired
White Pepper powder as desired
1 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp of Olive oil

Method:
Wash and soak the grams the whole night.
Drain the water and keep for sprouting in a muslin cloth or a sprout maker.
Take a big bowl and add both the legumes.
Add rest of the ingredients in it and mix it thoroughly.
A refreshing and healthy salad of sprouts and bell pepper is ready to snack.

Hope you enjoyed reading these tips on staying slim and the quick & healthy salad. Thanks again Nachiketa for your efforts, best wishes & congrats for your 200th mark in blog posts.
Opportunities like these help to unlock the creativity and getting closure to beautiful people and make friends. Keep up the good work.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Super Hmmmmmmmm...... Mocha Marble Cheesecakelets ~ By My Guest Ria

This is my celebrations for reaching 200 blog posts.... A lot of you will wonder, why am I not making something fancy to celebrate it. 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......

My guest today Ria of Ria's Collections. She is a certified cake decorator, freelance food writer, stylist and a photographer. Having followed her blog for a while... am testimony to all of these. Add to all this.... She is C-R-E-A-T-I-V-E, dedicated and hardworking. She's recently got married to Jobin. She stitched [since her hobbies are hand embroidery,sketching, tatting n crocheting] flowers for her wedding saree and veil and not to mention a 3 tier wedding cake all on her own...... bow down.. really admire you girlie...

Her kitchen is to die for, drop dead gorgeous[not more than her though].... and a hubby who bakes her a chocolate cake and she's featured on a cooking show too.... talk about talent... :)

She's someone who truly enjoys cooking.... it's so obvious from the variety of heads she's got under her belt... u name it... she git it covered... Appetizers, Drinks, Breads, Salads, Cakes, Brownies & Gateaux, East Meets West, Indian goodies, Curries, Pickles, Sauces, Dips, Chutneys, Desserts and Traditional Sweets, Cookies and More. You can find her recipie index here

Her Lavender Infused Stone Fruit Tartelettes had me in fits of delight as did her story on Pineapple Upside Down Cake.

I had loved her Tiramisu cake with Homemade Mascarpone Cheese, and wait till you see what she's made for me.....

A small something for the Indian readers of Ria.... She will select 1 lucky commenter to win complimentary vouchers of Javagreen, South Extention, New Delhi. It's chain of gourmet coffee shops. 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 restaurant.

Ria Writes.....

Hello foodies,
I am Ria Mathew,author of Ria's Collections, a true product of India blogging from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Nachiketa and I have been associated through our food blogs and I shouldn't forget to mention, Facebook :-) I love her enthusiasm to bake and share the goodies with her loved ones! I do the same here. Bake and share!

So, when I received an email from N asking if I could do a guest post, I willingly accepted. I had to make something which we both haven't made before, and of course, it had to be a dessert!That evening I went to our library and went through the whole section of dessert books and finally picked up one. Then it was a task to choose from it. I know Nachiketa & myself has a soft spot for cheesecakes & coffee,especially Tiramisu Cheesecake, so cheesecake it was!

MOCHA MARBLE CHEESECAKELETS
Recipe adapted from A Year in Chocolate by Alice Medrich

Ingredients:
Crust:
Chocolate wafer crumbs/Oreo cookie crumbs-1 1/2 c ( I used Parle-G + 2 tbsp of cocoa powder)
Butter-6 tbsp, melted
Sugar-1/4 c
Coffee powder-1 1/2 tsp

Filling:
Milk chocolate-40 g
Coffee powder-3/4 tsp
Boiling water-1 1/2 tbsp
Cream cheese-650 g
Sugar-1/2 c
Vanilla extract-1 1/2 tsp
Eggs-2, at room temperature

Method:
Crust:
1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 C/ 350 F.
2. Powder the cookies into the fine powder and mix it with the rest of the ingredients.
3. Press the mixture evenly over the bottom and half way up the sides of the pan.
4. Bake for 10 mins. Let it cool completely on a wire rack.

Filling:
1. Lower the oven temperature to 160 C/325 F.
2. Place the chocolate in a bowl with coffee powder. Pour the boiling water over it and stir until smooth. Set aside.
3. In another bowl, beat cream cheese till smooth, about 30 secs. Scrape the bowl and beaters.
4. Add sugar and vanilla and beat until smooth, 1-2 mins.
5. Add 1 egg and beat until just incorporated.Scrape bowl and beaters.
6. Beat in the 2nd egg. Stir 1 cup of the batter into the chocolate mixture.

Assembly:
1. Pour the white colour batter over the prepared crust.
2. Put dollops of the milk chocolate batter over the white colour batter.
3. Swirl and create a marbled effect using a butter knife making sure that you don't scrape the crust.
4. Place the pan on a baking sheet.
5. Bake until the edges of the cake are puffed and center looks moist and jiggles when tapped, 35-45 mins.
6. Remove from the oven and run a paring knife around the edges of the filling (this is to release the filling, if it is sticking to the tin).DO NOT remove it from the tin.
7. Place the cake on a cooling rack and invert a bowl/pot over it so that it cools down slowly.
8. Cover and refrigerate the cake for atleast 5 hours before serving.

I hope you all enjoyed the cheesecakelets! They were a big hit with us!

Nachiketa, I wish you all the best and may you have many many more! To another 200!

Friday, August 20, 2010

Air Devil with the Biggest Smile n Heart ~ By my Guest Pinakini

My guest today is Pinakini. She's known to me thru my colleague Vivek and his wife Pushpanjali. She's Pushpanjali's sister.... Haven't met her as often as would like in the physical world as I have on facebook.

She's such a lively person whose presence illuminates any party(really knows how to kick it up) n who loves Chocolate as much as I do :)

Her updates on facebook evoke such strong reactions amongst us... :) We have a rollicking time. Some of her status's read like this.....
" Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain..... Cherish the moment, let go of the pain..... Live, laugh, love, forgive and forget..... lifes too short to be living with regrets!!!"

"News Flash - - - "Scientists ve revealed that beer contains traces of female hormones.
To prove the theory, scientists fed 100 men 12 pints of beer each. They observed that 100% of them gained weight, talked excessively without ...making sense, became emotional and couldn't drive..... No further testing is planned." LOL :-D"

"If you don't think sin is fun, you haven't been committing the right sins. ;-)"

"When you meet someone who is nice, can cook and do housework--don't hesitate a minute--marry him !!!!!! Ha ha ;)"

"Sign on a plumber's truck: 'We repair what your husband just fixed.' "

"Humko jo mili hai zindagi.... gaati hai... hasti hai.... pagli si hai zara.... moody hai.... ziddi hai....Ruthe bhi.... maane bhi.... har lamha nayi Hai zindagi.... lovin it!!!! :))"

"Huge Raindrops splattering on my windscreen.... Beautiful love ballads on the radio... Bas ek garam chai ki pyaali ho..... :-)"

"Think everyone should go to college, get a degree and then spend six months as a bartender, six months as a cabdriver and six months bagpacking.... Then they would really be educated !!!!! :)"

"Devoured a whole bar of Cadburys Dairy Milk Silk.... Wow what a start.... Hope the rest of the day is as sweet !!!!!!!! :-D"

She's married to Sanjeev and the 2 of them manage Air Devils, a flying club which is the epitome of breaking into a new world of adventure, discovery, & excitement. Her sense of adventure is amazing... takes n the new, wild and loveable with equal ease.
Her daughter Yashna is equally a bright spark and enjoys being clicked as much as her mummy n masi n me. With vivek arround, there's no dirth of pictures for us posers.

A small something for the Indian readers of Pinakini.... She will select 1 lucky commenter to win complimentary vouchers of Kairali, Andheria Modh, New Delhi. It's an ayurvedic heath center which offers holistic benefits. 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 restaurant.

Pinakini Writes.....

The first time I heard about this girl, in, my brother-in-law's office, who was lookin ‘oh so amazin’ cos she had lost oodles n oodles of weight…. And I felt an instant sense of bonding…. I think only the ‘biggest losers’ know the perseverance, mental strength and effort required to lose big !!!

I can think of a number of things Nachi n I DON’T have in common… for starters I think we've met just a couple of times…. There’s a huge age difference…. Yes yes I am the older one…. The part time working, full time wife n mom whose main focus is home n family… Work is second… third… fifth… er can I make it last… on my list of priorities… Nachi is young, successful, gorgeous… Add to that a high flying career !!!

Pinakini DOES NOT like cooking…. In fact if it wasn’t this 11 yr old goin on 40… Who, in a bite, glares n grouches “ mommmm… ye aapne nahi banaaya hai na…!!!!!”… amply backed by her dad… I don’t think I would really venture into the kitchen!!! Simply put, I cook only coz it gives me a ridiculous sense of satisfaction to see whats going into their stomachs ….. and yes, the smiles on their faces are bliss :)

Whereas Nachi BAKES… cooks… broils… grills… I mean it’s a passion with a capital P !!!! and BAKES WOW !!! I've been special enough to be presented with the delliiiciiioouus cakes, desserts n not to mention the scrumptious banoffie pies which can give Big Chill in Delhi a good run for their money!!! And anybody whose eaten at Big Chill knows what a compliment this is!!!!

Like I said earlier, Nachi n I have not really interacted much… We don’t party, work or socialize together… We haven’t even gone out for any holidays or trips or have very many common friends… so much so that if u ask me what her favorite place, favorite food or even favorite color is, I would draw a blank BUT THEN there is ONE thing that binds us together… That is our zest for life…. We both have this passion and positivity towards life… The hunger to seize each day…. Make the most of every moment… Live, love, laugh… fly……the world is ours to take :)

So lets keep ROCKING baby…… DIVAS in our sphere…