“Delhi is the twin of pure paradise, a prototype of the heavenly throne on an earthly scroll”
Amir Khusrau
Happy 68th Independence Day India. I’m reliving it with memories of the soul stirring and nostalgic meal at threesixtyone°, The Oberoi, Gurgaon. That we ate till we literally dropped, was bound to happen. It’s not often you get to taste a well researched authentic finger licking good spread of Dehlvi cuisine. The ever gracious Mallika, Manager Communications, invited a handful of us to experience this rare curated spread from a city that belongs to us.
Dehlvi cuisine {pertaining to the Delhi region} as the name suggests is an evolutionary melange of the cuisine of the Mughals, Rajputs, Punjabis, Marwaris, Kayasthas and Vaishyas blended by the centuries. As the British empire moved it’s capital from Bengal to Delhi, it brought with it a potpourri of folk to run the administration. As Delhi became the hub of political, social and commercial activity, people from different communities found livelihood here. With them came interesting and unique culinary influences.After all, food is the ultimate comfort and each region and community contributed their little bit. What evolved over the ages was a very interesting platter. Aromas that were unique and rare, flavours that seemed improbable. Where else would you find the tropical guava in a curried savoury version. That was indeed a highlight of the meal, Amrut sabzi. Yes, we had seconds too.
This season, threesixtyone° pays tribute to the flavours inspired by old Delhi. The menu includes delicacies that have been researched from over centuries in a medley celebrated as ‘Delhi 6’, all curated by Chef Dirham Haque, our Indian masterchef. Dehlvi cuisine is flavoured by treasured spices that enhance and distinguish the flavours of one community from another.
Talking to the very sweet Chef Dirham, who obligingly kept us company through the meal, the meal took on nostalgic flavours. He spoke with passion about the origin of every dish, his trips into Old Delhi to get to the root of the origins, his search for rare forgotten ingredients, and the connect he made with the different communities. This brought new light to the meal, a celebration of culinary history.
The uniqueness of Dehlvi cuisine lies in its fascinating mix of traditions, geography, culture and community influences that have partaken to lend their own intrinsic stamp: The Mughals after their many invasions, the hardy Punjabis after Indian partition and settlement, the Kayasthas and their peppery flavours, the Vaishyas and the Marwaris with their rugged aromas. The myriad blend of spices, aromatic infusions, base ingredients and staples juxtapose with earthy relish in the vast array that’s Dehlvi cuisine.
For the table, which had a mix of us from different communities and food backgrounds, it was non stop banter. Put seven excited ladies on a table with celebrated chefs, good food and culinary history, and you will be assured of a noisy corner! The beautiful threesixtyone° at The Oberoi is well lit, surrounded by a body of water, was somewhat noisy that afternoon!
That it was popular was obvious. There were folk constantly walking in to savour the delicacies, maybe to connect to a cuisine somewhat forgotten. For locals, it’s a nostalgic connect as the flavours of Old Delhi charm you, an environment that is as colourful as it is captivating. As you can see from my photographs, I go to Old Delhi often.We began with Mufarra, a royal version of the ordinary sherbet, a drink of Delhi’s aristocrats or Farmaishi Khwan of Shajahanbada {Mughals}. It was quite sweet. Then it grew on you. Saffron, rose, mica, sandalwood I think … it had all the trappings of royalty!
The first course offered a window into Saadgi Khwaan or comfort food as well. Dahi ki gujjia with a special chaat masala, sprinkled over with the quintessential pomegranate pearls and chutneys. From here onwards, it was a journey through the streets of Old Delhi which took us from the mansions of the rich to ordinary everyday street food, from Farmaishi Khwaan to Sadgi Khwan. A well curated meal, stellar company and never a dull moment.The starters had a selection of flavours from Delhi’s different communities. Gilawat ke kebab, Silbatte ki shammi, Tandoori tangri, Gosht methi doka, Teekhe matar ke kebab each of them were uniquely spiced. The Gilaawat got my vote, with the Gosht methi doka and Shammi not far behind; something for everyone’s pallet!
Then on began the never ending mains, an exciting medley of flavours. Dehllika mussalum, tender baby chicken filled with forcemeat napped in a golden rich nutty gravy, Thande masale ki machli, Bharwan Karela, Kunni Dal, Dhlvi Nalli Nihari, Amrut Sabzi, Paneer Lavang Latika, Bharwaan Tindora Keema … and so much more. Recipes taken from old homes in Babar Lane, cooks of Mathur households, delicacies of the Vaishyacommunity, specialties of old Punjabi households… we dived into them all. Deliciously!
My favourites here were the Amrut sabzi {can guava ever be so charming in a curry?}, Nihari {beautifully cooked, served with all the trappings}, Kunni dal and the Bharwan Tindora Keema. Oh and the Bharwaan Karela too {despite not being a fan of the bitter gourd, this was finger licking good!}On the side arrived a selection of parathas inspired by the famous parathas of Pandit Dayachand Shivcharan of Daiba Kalan – mattar , aloo anaardaana, gobhi aur adkrak. Also on the side, a Mirch nimona saada pullao, Sarai ki biryani and interestingly Naan e bakumach. So much goodness that we were thoroughly spoilt.
The cherry on the cake had to be the dessert or Meetha. The cup of nostalgia overflowed. How could each of us not connect to the Royal Fruit Cup! Taking us back to the good old days of tinned fruit, a moussey custard whipped cream, reduced milk or rabdi.
It was magic in a cup, a recipe that Chef Haque said possibly took him the longest to get right. It was well worth the effort and worth every spoonful! Then arrived the show stopper. An old fashioned hand churned ice cream maker, wooden trappings and all. Gently and royally wheeled to our table, we were served the most creamy delicious hand churned mango ice cream, just like we enjoyed as kids.Oh yes, the royal meetha also included a very Bollywood inspired Kulfi khaas madhubala Dehlvi. a great end to a sumptuous meal.
“In today’s world, when many of yesterday’s fashionable habits are today’s misdemeanors, we should rejoice that a chocolate dessert can bring so much innocent pleasure.” Marcel Desaulniers
Whole wheat Fresh Cherry Cocoa Brownies … yes chocolate again, cocoa actually. Pointless apologising for my long absence again, but life is getting a little hectic. This time I am blaming it on the IFBM 2014 in Bangalore. It was the best kind of get together for food bloggers in India, and it’s now a little difficult getting back into the mold of things.
Call it withdrawal symptoms if you like, but will hopefully get a long post out soon. Until then, here’s a batch of brownies I made for a boy who was having home baked stuff withdrawal symptoms yesterday. The past two days he went, “processed again?”. Of course, I was ashamed. Haven’t been at home the last week. It’s been madness, so before I stepped out to do grocery, I popped these into the oven yesterday.
Picked him up off the school bus and entered a home smelling like chocolate heaven. “Yay”, he yelled! “You baked.” He happily settled down with a jug of fresh lime juice etc. The rest was …. gobble, gobble, gobble!
Summary: Moist, fresh and healthy. Here’s yet another divine wholegrain chocolate brownie. Whole wheat Fresh Cherry Cocoa Brownies are one bowl goodness which can be stirred together in minutes.
Prep Time: 10 minutes Total Time: 40 minutes Ingredients:
100g butter
20g clarified butter
120g brown sugar
55g cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
vanilla extract
2 eggs
75g fresh cherry balsamic preserves
80g wholewheat flour
50g dark choc chips
Method:
Preheat the oven to 175C. Line a 8 X * baking tin with pachment
Place the butter and clarified butter in a large bowl and microwave for a minute. Alternatively, place in a heavy bottom pan, and heat over very low flame until the butter has melted.
Whisk in the sugar, salt and baking powder, followed by the cocoa powder.
Break in eggs and whisk briskly to mix in, add vanilla extract. Whisk again
Fold in the cherry preserves and then the whole wheat four, followed by the chocolate chips.
You can use chopped roasted almonds instead of chocolate chips, or both f course.
Turn into prepared tin and spread uniformly. The top will be nice and shiny smooth.
Bake at 175C for about 30 minutes. Cool on rack in tine for at least 30-45 minutes.
“You’ll find that life is still worthwhile, if you just smile.”
Charles Chaplin
The Smile Foundation and 3-time Michelin starred celebrity Chef Vikas Khanna came together today to create a unique charity cookout – “Cook for a Smile” hosted by Hyatt Hotels in India on Sunday, July 27th, 2014, at Hyatt Regency Delhi. Funds raised from the campaign will be used to provide education and nutrition for 1,000 children for one year. Chef Vikas Khanna is associated with the Smile Foundation as a Goodwill Ambassador for its “Nutrition for Better Literacy” initiative.
Delhi’s top corporate leaders spent their Sunday busy testing their mettle at Hyatt’s cooking stations under the guidance of the MasterChef judge Vikas Khanna. The CEOs took to recreating some of their favourite recipes in support of Smile Foundation’s ‘Nutrition for Better Literacy’ initiative. Each CEO was accompanied by a child from the Smile Foundation who acted as sous – chef and helped these leaders stir up their own magic.
The event, anchored by Chef Vikas Khanna, was a collaborative effort between Hyatt, Smile Foundation and its partners Cleo County, Western Digital, Philips Kitchen Appliances & CNBC who share the same passion for bringing underprivileged a healthier lifestyle. True to his effervescent nature, the chef held the audience captivated by his humour and witty banter. Time just flew by …Elaborating on his fondness for the initiative Chef Vikas Khanna, Goodwill Ambassador – Nutrition For Better Literacy, Smile Foundation said, “Lack of proper nutrition is a fundamental issue and one of the biggest roadblocks for the growth and development for children in our country. I Am proud to be associated with Smile Foundation as their Goodwill Ambassador for Nutrition for better literacy and I hope I am able to sensitize many more people about this issue that faces us as a developing country. Cook for Smile has been a big step in helping us reach out to stakeholders and by end of this year I pledge to benefit around 5000 kids under this initiative.”
Smile Foundation is a national development organization working with a lifecycle approach toward children, their families and community. With a belief that education is the means as well as the end, the Foundation is reaching out to more than 300,000 underprivileged children, youth and women directly every year through 158 welfare projects on subjects such as education, healthcare, youth employability, and women empowerment across 25 states of India.
“Always keep a smile on your face, a rainbow in your heart, and some dark chocolate on hand!”
Dark Chocolate Wholegrain Brown Sugar Cake … seems like a load of dark chocolate and wholegrain happening on PAB of late. That’s where my heart lies. Whether it’s brownies, cookies or biscotti or then cake, wholegrain is the preferred choice, and often dark chocolate the perfect partner in crime!
I must confess that I begin with ‘no chocolate‘ in my intentions, but somewhere along the way cocoa and chocolate find their way into the mix or batter. It’s happened umpteen times, and now I wonder if I function on ‘auto chocolate’?
So this Dark Chocolate Wholegrain Brown Sugar Cake is inspired by the Muscavado Sugar Cake in a brilliant book ‘Good To The Grain‘. I bought the book a few years ago, and it continues to hold pride o f place on my book shelf. I might not bake out of it often, but its a constant source of inspiration alright. Just leafing through the pages gets my creativity going!
Talk about inspiration. So while I was making the cake, unsure of course whether it would work out fine or not, I thought I’d experiment with the styling. I sometimes find chocolate challenging to shoot so figured I would experiment a little. You see I am headed off to the IFBM in Bangalore to host a food styling workshop. With just a clutch of days to go, the butterflies in my stomach flutter non stop.
It’s just an hours workshop and my first dedicated food styling one. I am super excited and want to cram everything I know into that one precious hour. That’s not going to happen of course, but I am trying. Food styling is so personal, it reflects a bit of you, yet it is so infinite.
That’s the thing about food photography. Just keep experimenting with different, styles, different porps, changing light… it’s this practice that helps you grow. The possibilities are infinite. Much like the pleasure you get from seeing the results! So while the recipe is to feed the blog, the few different snapshots head off to the IFBM!
I enjoy using wholegrains in my recipes, and this one is a hearty and delicious one. Getting amaranth in there made it even better. You can experiment with different combinations, even skip the cocoa like in the original recipe from the book. Oh yes, and try and use unrefined mineral sugars. Make it a habit. I have!
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Recipe: Dark Chocolate Wholegrain Brown Sugar Cake
Summary: Dark, moist and divinely chocolaty, this Dark Chocolate Wholegrain Brown Sugar Cake is sure to be a crowd pleaser. A great tea tray bake, a picnic cake or a tiffin filler, this is sure to become a favourite soon.
Prep Time: 15 minutes Total Time: 40 minutes Ingredients:
Preheat the oven to 180C. Line an 8 X 8″ square baking tin.
In the jar of the food processor, place the amaranth, whole wheat, almond meal, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Pulse briefly to mix and lighten.
Add the chilled butter and pulse briefly to get a breadcrumb like mix. Reserve.
Beat the egg whites to soft peaks. Add 75g brown sugar and beat again until stiff. Place about a 1/4 cup in a piping bag {for marbling on top if desired}. Reserve rest
Beat the egg yolks with remaining sugar in a large bowl until light and moussey, almost 5-7 minutes. Add vanilla an d beat again.
Gently fold in dry mix, followed by the beaten egg whites. Fold lightly but uniformly. Add chocolate chips if using and gently mix again.
Turn into prepared tin, pipe squiggles of reserved beaten egg white if desired.
Bake for abut 25-30 minutes or until a tester comes out with a few moist crumbs on it.
Cool on rack for about 30 minutes. Serve warm, at room temperature or chilled.
“I like on the table, when we’re speaking, the light of a bottle of intelligent wine.”
Pablo Neruda
If you can rhapsodize at length about your favourite bottle of plonk, sniff out a superior Sauvignon at 100 paces and choose to order all your specialist wine by post, it might be time to consider heading to a wine festival. Not only will you get to voice your opinions on tannins and food pairing with like-minded individuals, you’ll deepen your appreciation of decent wine, and see more of the world as you do it! Read on to discover some of the top destinations to embrace your passion for vino!
Boston Wine Expo, USA
The Boston wine expo is America’s largest consumer-facing celebration of wine. Kicking off in February, it offers an action-packed programme with thousands of different wines on show.
As well as informative seminars with exciting themes like ‘Twenty first Century Rioja’ and ‘Experience the exciting wines of Portugal’, there are expert chefs on hand to construct dazzling menus designed to entice the palate.
Békéscsaba: Csabai Sausage Festival, Hungary
Okay, so this is technically a sausage-based celebration, but this joyous event held every October in the little town of Békéscsaba involves Hungarian wine by the gallon, too. Pig out on hearty Hungarian fare, soak up the lively atmosphere and wonder at one of the dozens of sausage-making contests as the competition starts to sizzle!
Bacchus Food and Wine Festival, France
Named after the Roman god of wine (and ritual madness), the Bacchus Food and Wine Festival in Toulon has been running for 20 years, and blooms in the first week of April. Sample wines from over 150 local growers, accompanied by musicians, traders and food producers, usually in costume to capture the spirit of this decadent Provancale celebration.
Dubrovnik International Wine & Jazz Festival, Croatia
If cheese isn’t your thing, why not indulge in a large glass of red paired with some sultry jazz instead? Kicking off at the end of May, this smooth little event will soothe away any stresses you have with its blend of world-renowned musicians, Croatian wine, fine art exhibitions and exquisite Dalmatian cuisine.
By all means, indulge your inner epicure at one of these fantastic festivals, just remember to stay hydrated, eat well and never mix the grape and the grain, or you could be in for a few painful mornings after the night before!
“Cake is happiness! If you know the way of the cake, you know the way of happiness! If you have a cake in front of you, you should not look any further for joy!” C. JoyBell C.
It was a Peaches & Cream Cake for my father’s birthday last week. Everything was going according to plan,and I toyed around with summer cake ideas in my head. Summer is for stone fruit, and the cake would most certainly have some! Peaches! I had a kilo of them in the fridge. Cream? Yes of course; there’s always some on hand. Time for peaches and cream!!
Despite knowing that whipping cream in miserable summer heat is sure to fail, I marched ahead. At 43C, life was never going to be a cake walk in the record breaking heat and humidity we have had this summer. That the rains failed added to my misery. 75% humidity and everything looks like it’s condensing! Not the best weather to work with cream cakes in ……
…and then it was time for a power breakdown. It had been assembled but a cake needs chilling you know. I stuck the cake into the fridge and we finally left for dinner. The cake survived as power was back when we returned. I thanked my lucky stars that it held together until we cut it, well almost. It was YUM!
Oh, did I tell you I never got to my kilo of peaches? Yes that happened too. With all the unnecessary drama of no power, I just reached out for a tin of canned peaches; probably my best idea that day. Another good idea was the Crème patisserie I made for the frosting … finger licking good.
Summary: A light summery birthday cake, the crème patisserie lends a nice, deep flavour to the frosting on the Peaches & Cream Cake. Use fresh peaches or even apricots in season. The cake would work really well with mangoes too. Prep Time: 25 minutes Total Time: 1 hour plus cooling , chilling time Ingredients:
Sponge Cake {Make 2 X 3 egg sponges}
3 eggs
100g Castor sugar
70g plain flour
1tsp baking powder
pinch salt
Filling & topping
500g low fat cream, chilled
75g icing sugar {adjust as per requirement}
1 850g tin peach halves {I used Del Monte}
Crème patisserie {can be made a day before}
200ml low fat cream
pinch salt
2 eggs
1 vanilla bean scraped
50g sugar
15g cornflour
Method:
Sponge Cake
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Line, grease & a 7″ loose bottomed tin.
{If your oven in big, bake 2 X 7″ cakes together}
Sift the flour, baking powder and salt 3 times. Reserve.
Beat the eggs, essence & sugar till mousse like {almost 10 minutes}.>
Lightly fold the flour in 3 goes in figure 8 movements (so as no to release the air bubbles).
Gently turn into prepared tin & bake for 20-25 minutes till light brown & spongy.
Repeat for 2nd cake.
Cool on racks completely, then slice horizontally into 2 layers each
Filling
Whip all ingredients together to medium peaks.
Crème patisserie
Bring cream and a pinch of salt to a gentle boil in a pot.
In the meantime, whisk the egg yolks and sugar with a wooden spoon in a big bowl until the mixture becomes pale and light. Stir in the cornflour slowly until it is thoroughly mixed with the egg mixture.
Pour the boiling cream into the mixture a little by little while whisking continuously to avoid curdling.
Transfer the whole mixture into a pot, with the seeds scraped from the vanilla bean {throw in the shell too}, and simmer over low heat. Stir it constantly with the wooden spoon or spatula scraping the sides and bottom until it has thickened.
Once the custard has thickened, take it off the heat, and strain it into a clean bowl. Add a dash of peach liqueur if desired. Cool, cover with cling wrap touching the surface, then chill for a few hours. This is going to be very thick.
Assemble
Drain the peaches and slice 3-4 halves for topping. Chop up the rest.
Reserve the peach syrup to moisten the sponge with.
Reserve 1 cup of whipped cream for the frosting.
Place 1 layer of sponge on serving platter, moisten with reserved peach syrup, top with 1/3 whipped cream, and 1/3rd chopped peaches. Repeat with remaining layers.
Loosen the chilled crème patisserie and gently fold in the reserved whipped cream. Don’t whisk briskly or it will become too floppy for frosting.
Taste and adjust sweetness if required. Frost the top and sides of cake with it.
Top with peach slices, chill for at least half an hour for flavours to mature.
