Tiramisu

Tiramisu is one of the most popular Italian deserts. Although it doesn't require any introduction, for the uninitiated Tiramisu is a creamy, melt in mouth cake primarily made up of lady finger biscuits dipped in espresso or strong coffee decoction, layered with a whipped mixture of egg yolks, mascarpone, and sugar, and topped with cocoa. Ref: Tiramisu.

These days there are different versions of Tiramisu. Some made with Rum or Marsala wine or Coffee liquor, some made with raw eggs only, while some have Zabaglione in them. Although traditionally it has mascarpone in it, cream cheese or whipped cottage/ricotta cheese is also used as a low fat version. We first had our bite of Tiramisu (imported from Belgium) at Bliss and paid a whopping price of Rs. 150 bucks for a fairly small bite of cake (We finished the cake in just 2-3 bites!). It was heavenly!

I set out to try them at home. I went through a few hazzles while making them. Firstly, the Mascarpone cheese was almost impossible to get in India. I have made ample searches, saw cheddar, mozzerella, gouda, cottage, processed cheese, etc, but absolutely no Mascarpone! Mascarpone cheese is very high in fat and since not easily available in India, I settled to use the low fat version, Cottage cheese which is easily available everywhere.

Initially, I thought of making lady fingers at home. Internet searches gave ample of recipes to make lady finger cakes at home, but the thought of making everything from scratch seemed really tedious and I settled to use sponge cakes instead. It is a bit time consuming as I made cottage cheese fresh at home. However in the end, the cake turned out fantastic.

Tiramisu

Prepare the Zabaglione:

6 egg yolks
1 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 tsp Vanilla extract/essence
A hint of salt

Zabaglione generally is made of eggs alone. But we are not very fond of the sole egg-y flavor. So to reduce it's intensity, I made it the custard way. Omit milk in the above recipe if you like the egg-y flavor. Beat the eggs well with sugar. Heat the milk till its hot, but not boiling. Temper the milk into the eggs slowly and carefully so that the eggs don't split or scramble. Transfer to a double boiler and heat through till the custard is thick and coats the back of the spatula. Remove from heat and add the butter and vanilla essence. Allow to cool in the refrigerator.

Prepare the Cream cheese:

1 cup cottage cheese
1 cup confectioners sugar
1/2 cup whipped cream

Run the cheese along with sugar in a mixer till it is smooth and creamy. Add the heavy whipped cream with the above prepare zabaglione. Gently fold everything. Refrigerate so that it sets well.

You can either purchase store bought cottage cheese, else prepare at home. I made mine at home.

Prepare the Cottage cheese:

1 litre milk
1 tsp lime juice

Heat the milk. Once it comes to a boil, add lime juice. The whey and curdled milk should separate now. The curdled milk will float on top. Allow to cool a bit and strain the whey through a cheese cloth. Allow the mixture to drain for an hour, then take the ends of the cheesecloth and twist to drain any remaining whey. Homemade cottage cheese is ready!

Prepare the coffee mixture:

Either use expresso or make strong coffee decoction at home. Add a 1 tbsp of rum to it.

Assembling the cake:

Keep the cake, coffee mixture, and cream filling at hand. Dip the cake in the coffee and line the bottom of the serving dish. Place the cake side by side till the bottom is fully covered. Next, scoop a big dollop of cream cheese mix and spread well to cover the cake. Lay another layer of cake and cream mix and top it with cocoa powder. Refrigerate overnight and serve the next day for the flavors to blend well. Slice and serve.

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Simple Sautéed Cabbage

For the times when we had heavy lunch or dinners, the following dinner or next afternoon's lunch would always be light. This was was the care mama took of our tummies. She strongly believed that after a heavy, greasy and creamy hotel food, it's best to settle for simple home cooked par-boiled veggies which gave the stomach mechanism some break... after all it requires some rest too! And the Simple Sautéed Cabbage was one of those simple delicacies that purely brought out the flavor of cabbage. This simply spiced par-cooked cabbage would be such a rescue and I thoroughly enjoy this as a side dish or even as salad. Here it goes, the mum's way...

Here's what we need:

1/2 cabbage, finely shredded
1 tsp Oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
A sprig of curry leaves
1-2 green chillies, slitted
Salt to taste

Heat oil in a kadai/wok. Add mustard, cumin and allow them to splutter. Add turmeric and slitted green chillies and fry another minute. Then add the cabbage and salt and sauté for few minutes. Sauté till the cabbage is par-cooked. Turn off the flame and cover. The heat is sufficient for it to cook a little further. This way the cabbage is not over cooked and it does not loose it's crunch. We love cabbage done this way. Serve hot with rice or roti as a side dish.

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Spiced Veg Pizza with Homemade Pizza dough

I like my Pizzas with thin crusts. Every time we order Pizza in a restaurant, we are often greeted with a basic thick crust pizza. And that gives me a feeling that I am biting into more of breads than the toppings. I am also fond of nice thick layer of vegetable toppings. So this time I went ahead to make my thin crust pizza dough at home. It's simple to make, but requires planning ahead in time.

Making the dough requires some standing time for the yeast to culture, so just plan your meal ahead so that you can prepare the dough. Once the dough is rolled out, all it requires is spreading the sauce, the toppings and loads of cheeeeese! It's pizza customized to your taste buds. So what can be better than that! I shall share the pizza dough recipe this time and the toppings probably the next time.

Homemade Pizza dough

INGREDIENTS:

1 tsp dry yeast
1/4 cup sour yogurt or warm milk
A tsp of sugar
Salt to taste
1 cup all purpose flour / wheat flour
Water, if required
1 tsp Olive oil

DIRECTIONS:

In a small bowl, mix some dry yeast in warm milk, add a tsp of sugar and salt and stir to dissolve it. Set aside for about 5 minutes so that the yeast dissolves well.

Heap the flour into a large bowl and make a hole in the center. Pour the yeast mixture, extra salt (if needed) and 1 tbsp of olive oil. Mix the well and form a soft dough. Add water if its stiff to bind, add more flour if its too wet. Knead the dough well and pat with a tsp of oil to cover the dough from all sides. Cover the dough with a kitchen towel and set aside in a warm place for an hour.

After an hour or two, the dough would have doubled in size. Now punch the dough down and divide into 2 balls. Roll into thin crust or thick crust as per your preference. Poke a few holes into the dough using fork to prevent the dough from rising from the center. Pizza base is ready!

And just in case you do not have pizza sauce handy, or you ran out of stock and you do not have sufficient time at hand to slog in front of your stove, then make this super easy and quick version. I have an express recipe for a homemade pizza sauce. This was picked from one of the Italian cookbooks, the name of which I can't recall at the moment. Fry a tablespoon of finely chopped garlic with olive oil till translucent. Add a cup of ready-made tomato sauce to it. Sauté for a min or two. Add a dash of Italian herbs or seasoning and the pizza sauce is ready! This sauce is good pastas and lasagnas too.

Lay the pizza base. Spread the sauce. Dress it with toppings of your choice. Top with cheese. Pop into the oven and bake till cheese browns. And your Pizza is all ready to be served!

Spiced Veg Pizza

INGREDIENTS:

1 medium chopped onion
1 yellow capsicum
1 red capsicum
1 green capsicum
2 baby corns
1 tomato
1 tbsp pizza sauce
1 tbsp mozzarella cheese
1 tbsp cheddar or Parmesan cheese
1 tsp red chili flakes
Salt & pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

Wash and chop all the vegetables to medium to small bite sized pieces. Lay the homemade pizza base on a baking tray or pizza stone, spread some pizza sauce, sprinkle a tbsp of cheddar or Parmesan cheese. Then arrange the vegetables on the base. Add salt, pepper and chili flakes to taste, as preferred. I don't usually add any salt as the cheese has enough salt in it. Finally top the pizza with loads of mozzarella cheese. Bake in a pre-heated oven on 180 deg C.

Serve hot with Italian herbs, oregano and more chili flakes for that extra spice. Enjoy!

And if you like Deep pan or Thick crust pizza, then this bite is for you! Enjoy!!!

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Mooli Paratha

A traditional Punjabi food would definitely comprise of Parathas without which their menu would remain incomplete. In a week, this would be a compulsive part of the breakfast menu. Travel north and you are bound to be greeted with Thelewalas selling hot Parathas on street side. Loaded with ghee and butter, spiced up well, they are a sure to leave your taste buds lingering for more. Yum indeed! The thought itself leaves me tempting and wants me to grab for some right away! Since wheat is primarily grown in Northern part of India, it for a staple part of their dietary intake.

Mooli Paratha is one of my personal favorites and I love it for the simple mélange of flavors that it creates with each bite. It's just so enticing. Almost every weekend, we indulge in various types of Parathas. They are always either on our breakfast or lunch menu and sometimes dinner as well. This weekend it was Radish/Mooli paratha. Wheneven I have dull, weary looking radish lying in the fridge, I make it a point to use them this way. They never go waste this way!

Prepare the dough first:

For the dough:
2 cups Wheat flour
Salt To taste
Water

For the Mooli parathas, here's what we need:

3 Mooli (Radish)
1/2 tsp Red chilli powder
1/2 tsp Cumin seeds
1/2 tsp Coriander powder
2 Green chillies, chopped finely
2 tbsp Coriander leaves
A hint of Amchoor powder
Salt To Taste

Add water to wheat flour and salt and knead to a stiff dough. Drizzle a tsp of oil on the dough and coat it on all sides. Cover and keep aside for sometime.

Wash, peel and grate the radish. Add salt to it and leave it aside for 15 minutes. Squeeze and drain all the water. Use this water to knead the dough as it contains the nutrients. Add cumin seeds, coriander powder, red chilli powder, green chillies, amchoor powder and coriander leaves and mix well. Add more salt (if needed).

Roll some dough (about 2 lemon sized) into small disk. Place 2 tsp of stuffing at the centre, pull the edges up and cover from all the sides. Roll again into a thick, round parantha. Heat a tava and fry the mooli paratha on both sides to crispy brown. Put some oil over the paratha. Serve the mooli paratha hot with pickle and curd.

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Cocoa-Oatmeal Cookies

I love cookies. But I still desist indulging often in store bought biscuits and cookies. It's okay at times. But on a daily basis, I would prefer something more homemade which is lighter, simpler and healthier. Well, following my mum's way. Despite knowing that biscuits, cookies, pastries, etc do carry butter and sugar content, I still try and have a control on them. If the recipe called for a cup of sugar, I would prefer using a little lesser than what it asks for. The same goes with butter. It probably would taste great and richer, but I think we are just fine with less.

I recently made a small batch of almond cookies. They were such an instant hit that they got finished even before I could click few snaps of them. They were crisp, crunchy and delicately almond flavored. I decided to make another batch of them, but with a variation. Since I had always have a bag of oatmeal at home, I thought it would be a good idea to use them in cookies. And again it's time for my favorite chocolate flavored ones.

As the cookies were baking in the oven, it's chocloatey aroma spread across the house transforming the entire house to smell like a cookie shop. It was just heavenly! Aromatic and truly decadent. These are perfect for tea time and go well with a hot cuppa coffee.

Cocoa-Oatmeal Cookies

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup all purpose flour
50 gms cold butter
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 cup granulated damerara sugar
1/4 tsp baking powder
A pinch of baking soda
A pinch of salt
1/4 cup chopped cashew nuts (or mixed, as desired)
1/4 cup milk or as desired

DIRECTIONS:

Don't melt the butter. Instead mash the cold butter well into all purpose flour till it resembles bread crumbs.

Mix all the dry ingredients (i.e. from rolled oats to nuts in the list) in a separate bowl. Then add all the dry ingredients to the above. Mix well. Add milk and gently mix so that it forms a soft dough or a thick batter (batter will be thick enough to scoop out). Scoop out dollops of batter to a parchment paper or aluminum foil. Make sure to leave enough space between each dollop as it will swell during baking process.

Place the tray in the oven and bake on 350 degree for about 15 minutes depending on your oven. The resultant cookie will be chewy and slightly crunchy on the edges. If you bake further the cookie will turn crunchier. Enjoy with tea or coffee or just plain milk!

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Homemade Granola Bars

We like living a good and healthy lifestyle. Despite a fast life, hectic work schedules, I still manage to pull time out to cook an entire day's meal. It gets real hectic sometimes. Fitting in time and managing a healthy meal which is full of nutrition is an everyday challenge.

Recently we decided to go on a change in our breakfast routine. It so happens that everyday I spend time in preparing a complete breakfast which begins from cooking the breakfast, followed by preparing tea and post cleaning process. By the time the morning chores are done, it's time to prepare for lunch. This leaves hardly any time for other jobs which are then pushed for the weekend. We decided to put an end to all this. Going the healthy way, we switched to eating oats during the week days and cooking breakfast was for the weekends.

Day 1, day 2, day 3, day 4... by now I was bored eating the same oats which have no taste nor are appealing. Other than the usual porridge (which is ok for a day or two), it was the monotony that was killing me. We then switched to corn flakes which was still better for me. All said, this did save a lot of time for us and it has helped us focus on many other important jobs.

Since oats are high in fiber and healthier option for weight loss, I decided to make my own bar of Granola bars which I can munch on whenever I go through hunger pangs. They make up for a great breakfast and are equally as good as oat porridge. It's great for breakfast, a tea-time snack or even as a dessert! Indulge a great treat the healthy way!

Homemade Granola Bars

INGREDIENTS

1 cups quick rolled oats
1/4 cup chopped almonds
1/4 cup pitted dates, well chopped
1/4 cup golden raisins
1/4 cup rice crispies
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract, optional
25 gms melted butter or vegetable oil
1 tablespoon water

DIRECTIONS

Granola bars can be either made in oven or on stove top. I find stove top easier, so I make it that way. Mix dry ingredients 1 to 5 and toast on a medium low flame for about 10 minutes till crisp and brown. Nuts should turn crisp. Set it aside to cool a little.

Next, in a saucepan mix butter, honey and brown sugar and heat on a medium flame till the sugar melts and begins to bubble. If you see the sugar caramelizing, add a tsp of water or more. Remove from heat when it is slightly thick and bubbles. Add the vanilla essence. Quickly add the toasted oats and nuts and mix well. Spread on a parchment paper and using the back of a wooden spoon, spread it across gently. Cover another parchment paper and press them down gently. Let them cool. Cut into bars once cooled. Enjoy anytime as desired!

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