DESSERTS

FRIENDSHIP, SPICE & THE CHINESE NEW YEAR!

2008/02/07 / 13 Comments
“Condiments are like old friends — highly thought of, but often taken for granted.” Marilyn Kaytor
IMG 2844 STAR ANISE FLAVOURED SWISS ROLL with MARMALADE SAUCE
I took some marmalade that I had made last month & spiced it up with star anise, cinnamon, ginger etc. Let it mature for a day…dreamt of a swiss roll last night & created my own dessert this morning. Very proud of this one because I thought it up in my mind, enjoyed the experience a lot & the roll came out looking quite nice. Tasted great too & is my entry for this month’s THINK SPICE!

IMG 2702

MILDLY SPICY MARMALADE SAUCE…Sweet & different!

What would you do if the courier brings you a parcel & you open it amidst great excitement to see some starry creatures staring right back at you. Initial dismay of the star anise type!! Exactly what happened to me a few days ago. Arundati said she was sending me the ‘Arusuvai‘ friendship surprise ingredient looooooong ago…& it finally reached 2 days back (much after curiosity killed the cat in me many times over). collage 1

Beautifully packed…with the surprise ingredient, a lovely gift & 2 letters!
(Sorry Arundati, I couldn’t resist the bit about 2 letters!!) ARUSUVAIArusuvai Friendship Chain is about sending along a surprise ingredient as a gift to your friends for them to prepare something tasty with it, share the recipe, and pass on other surprise ingredients to more people.

While Arundati was still trying to post her parcel, Sunita thankfully recovered her blog (PHEW) which she deleted in error & posted the spice for Feb…STAR ANISE!! O boy…I thought, maybe I would let this pass. Fate of course had other plans for me when the parcel arrived!! I burnt the midnight oil researching this pretty spice, sniffing it merrily, looking at it in wonder & trying to build the friendship chain! IMG 2769
Star anise, star aniseed, badiane or Chinese star anise, (Chinese: 八角, pinyin: bājiǎo, lit. “eight-horn”) is a spice that closely resembles anise in flavor, obtained from the star-shaped pericarp of Illicium verum, a small native evergreen tree of southwest China. The star shaped fruits are harvested just before ripening. It is widely used in Chinese cuisine, in Indian cuisine where it is a major component of garam masala, and in Malay/Indonesian cuisine. Star anise is an ingredient of the traditional five-spice powder of Chinese cooking.

newyr5newyr3

Gung hay fat choy
(meaning “May you become prosperous)
While on the topic of this really exotic Chinese spice, wonder if you know that the Chinese New Year begins today, on Thursday, February 7, 2008. By the Chinese Calendar 2008 is the Year of the Rat.

HAPPY CNY TO ALL OF YOU!

This post is becoming longer than I would like it to be, but there seems little way out of this saga. Getting back … thank you Arundati (who’s in the line of fire & she knows it!!) for your favourite spice that awakened the creativity in me. I really really liked the pretty stars & wanted to make a sweet spice sauce for dessert. Here’s what I did.IMG 2704
Ingredients:
Marmalade – 1/2 cup
Star Anise – 3-4 flowers
Ginger – 1 inch piece / crushed roughly as it has to be discarded later
Cinnamon – 1 piece
Freshly crushed black pepper – a twist or two of the peppermill
Water – 1/8 cup (approx)
Method:
  • Mix all of the above & simmer on low heat in a pan.
  • Leave to cool overnight for the flavours to mature.
  • Discard the ginger; remove the cinnamon & star anise & reserve for garnishing.
  • This mildly spicy sweet sauce can be also be used as a topping for ice-cream, dessert sauce for a panna cotta etc too. Star anise has a very mild flavour almost like fennel (saunf).

IMG 2796 SWISS ROLL
Ingredients:

Eggs – 3
Castor sugar – 1/2 cup
Flour – 1/2 cup
Star anise powder – 1 tsp ( I ground some in the coffee grinder & sieved it)

Method:

  • Preheat oven to 180 degrees C
  • Line a swiss roll tin with non-stick parchment.
  • Beat the eggs & sugar well for about 10 minutes till they become thick & mousse like.
  • Sift 1/3 of the flour into the beaten mixture & gently fold in. Repeat 2 more times.
  • Gently turn into lined tin & bake for 10-12 minutes till light golden brown.
  • While the roll is baking, sift sugar & a little star anise powder over a piece of parchment, slightly bigger than the roll, & place over a cloth kitchen towel.

    • collage

  • Remove from oven & turn the roll onto the parchment, & peel off the lining (which should be now on top)
  • Roll the kitchen towel with the second parchment & roll on it firmly & leave to cool.

Filling :

Whipping cream – 200ml
Hung curd – 1/2 cup (optional)
Orange essence – 1 tsp (optional)
Castor sugar 2-3 tbsps

Method:

  • Put everything together in bowl & whip till thick.

Assembling the Swiss Roll:

  • Unroll the swiss roll & spread a layer of the marmalade sauce evenly over it.
  • Next spread the cream filling. Don’t put too thick a layer or it will ooze out while rolling it back. Some cream will get left. Reserve it for the topping.
  • Now gently & firmly roll it back & place in a tray with the overlapping end underneath.
  • Drizzle remaining cream over the roll, sprinkle some star anise powder & some orange zest if you have some. garnish with th reserved star anise flowers & cinnamon stick.
  • ( I cut my roll into slices before drizzling the cream; just a personal choice since the excitement generated by the kids prior to serving makes my slices get cut all wrong!)
  • Chill well, & serve with slices of orange & remaining cream.

IMG 2821

    A slice on a roll!!

    P.S. Thank you Srivalli for the great chain! I have sent my surprise ingredient to Miri at Peppermill…thanks for adding a link to the chain!

    Posted by Deeba @ PAB

    About me: I am a freelance food writer, recipe developer and photographer. Food is my passion - baking, cooking, developing recipes, making recipes healthier, using fresh seasonal produce and local products, keeping a check on my carbon footprint and being a responsible foodie! I enjoy food styling, food photography, recipe development and product reviews. I express this through my food photographs which I style and the recipes I blog. My strength lies in 'Doing Food From Scratch'; it must taste as good as it looks, and be healthy too. Baking in India, often my biggest challenge is the non-availability of baking ingredients, and this has now become a platform to get creative on. I enjoy cooking immensely as well.

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    13 Comments

    • Ben

      2008/02/07 at 2:41 pm Reply

      Happy New Year to you, too! This roll looks amazing. If I had more time I’d make it today. Sometimes I wish the days were longer just to cook so many amazing recipes

      Cheers!

    • Rachel

      2008/02/08 at 4:45 am Reply

      Great use of the anise…both for the event as well as the friendship chain….So you dream of food too eh?

    • DK

      2008/02/08 at 5:59 am Reply

      OMG! ur roll luks simply amazing! I tried making roll once – that was a disaster and I am thinking of trying it once more although i kept putting it off..Now ur roll is making me all inspired! Good one 🙂

    • Aparna

      2008/02/08 at 7:29 am Reply

      That’s lovely Deeba. So you killed two birds with one stone. Actually, nailed two events with one spice!
      I got my Arusuvai ingredient last month and finally did a post this month.

    • Cynthia

      2008/02/09 at 12:25 am Reply

      I like the spicing up of the marmalade! Swiss rolls are my favourites. It is one of those things I have down to try making.

    • meeso

      2008/02/09 at 1:37 am Reply

      Wow! This looks and sounds so amazing! I can almost smell and taste this dessert!!! I would love to make this sometime…even more than one of your chocolate desserts, and that’s saying a lot 😀

    • Srivalli

      2008/02/11 at 5:43 am Reply

      Deeba, as usual a very lovely creation. You have so much talent …the rolls look so lovely…wish I had that parceled…Will update you soon on the next person…thanks for playing along…hope it wasn’t so much of a strain…

    • Latha

      2009/10/09 at 9:39 pm Reply

      Deeba,

      I baked my first ever swiss roll today, on my birthday. I had some special moments today, thanks to my 4 yr old, but you made it all the more special thanks to your lovely recipe. I only rolled the cake from the wrong side so it looks more like a family-size dosa LOL! but who cares i'll get more slices… oh i still can't believe i got the swiss roll perfect to the 'T' without 'beating eggs over hot water' etc., you are simply amazing!

    Thank you so much for stopping by. I'd love to hear from you.

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