Bloggers Table | Rose Café, New Delhi … a thorny affair and Pinktober let down

“You can complain because roses have thorns, or you can rejoice because thorns have roses.”
Ziggy

Rose Café, New DelhiIt was the high after an excellent and pampered dinner at The Leela, Gurgaon that carried the Bloggers Table to a supposedly fun filled and leisurely brunch to the Rose Café, Saket, New Delhi the next noon. Not a bunch to miss out on a fun Sunday afternoon together, even though a few of us were eating more than we could accommodate in a single weekend, we were game. Good company is always a promise for good times … The folk at the bloggers table delivered the promise as always … giggly, enthusiastic, chatty and click friendly. Rose Café, New Delhi, however didn’t!  We failed to see the writing on the wall several times, willing to overlook glaring shortcomings, ready to forgive a lacking service standards, ever ready to accommodate an upcoming new venture which showed some promise, even forgave a bit of hair in a glass of water. Maybe we shouldn’t be so large-hearted after all!The first impressions were quite nice, but they didn’t last long. They were put to a brutal end by a rather obnoxious young man from the cafe, who, other than using physical force, accosted a few of us women verbally and rather nastily. Catch the horror story at the end … it was something that shouldn’t have happened!The place had this nice English rose look about it, distressed furniture that I love, a play of pastel pinks and blues that gladden the heart. Good overall feel to the place though the seating appeared a little cramped. I had happy thoughts of another good Pinktober blog post … short-lived though!It was pretty pink alright, though the stewards in pink shirts were a bit much for me. The other thing about the staff was a lack of any personal touch, eye contact or ‘café warmth‘‘. They were very robotic from word go … and didn’t get much better as the clock ticked!We were  about 14 of us. That was definitely not too many for Rose Café to completely mess up the orders, more so since we had called ahead. A few got food, the chatty women especially {thank heavens I’m chatty}. Not so the poor men, and that got them rather hot and bothered. 40 minutes without a meal wasn’t happening at lunch time. Also, have you ever been served jacket potatoes with dessert? ROFL … that happened too!To be fair, the thin crust pizzas were good. But then again, there are many more places that offer really good pizza with outstanding service, so would rather head there. Try Olive which is a stones throw from Rose Café, else head for Amici in Khan Market. For me, cuisine is the entire ambiance and hospitality experience. I’m certainly not heading back to this pink place in a hurry!The bruschetta was good too with a generous topping of goat cheese and caramelised onions. The spicy chicken bits were very overcooked and hard though the dipping sauce was zingy good with vinegar and green chili. Still, what’s a dip if the ‘main player‘ is bad news? The bunny chow was soft and the baked beans complimented it well.The only other thing that deserves some mention was the shepherds pie! The rest of the food was very mediocre. What was really noticeable was service standards, or rather, the lack of them! There was large scale mixing up and slip ups on orders. Drinks either came in doubles, or didn’t come at all. The staff were unable to recall who asked for what, which meant quite a few goof ups. I also heard that the eggplant parmesan was a disaster.Dessert was by far the biggest disappointment, especially for the baker in me. Can you possibly serve frozen cake at a table? The macaroons were cold {from the fridge cold}, and so was the lemon cake. The tiramisu was meh! The espresso cake with whipped cream and a caramel sauce was the only saving grace. The grand finale was a cake baked specially for the table, a layered raspberry cake I think. In many ways it looked like it was all dressed up with nowhere to go because it was served frozen. Knives and forks battled the slices which should have been melt in the mouth tender. Quite disastrous and a huge let down. Time for a new pastry chef maybe?Time for adieu … and that’s when the drama unfolded. An angry young man from the cafe decided to display his very inhospitable side over a matter which was bothering him. To add injury to insult, he almost physically asked us to step back in. He’d do well with a crash course in hospitality, addressing women, public dealing and social relations. The industry is clearly unsuited to his aggressive personality because this line is not just about food. It’s about the entire experience.The few happy good memories we packed to take away were rudely snatched away from us just as we left. NOTHING ‘ROSE-Y’ ABOUT IT, nothing worth going back for! The apology that followed did little to douse the fire as it came on demand, and carried on the inflame the situation a wee bit more. Thank you but NO THANK YOU Rose Café!

Others at brunch who shared the ‘not such a pink experience‘ that afternoon…
Sid @ Chef at Large
Sangeeta @ Banaras ka Khana
Sushmita @ My Unfinished Life
Rituparna @ Chocolate & Dreams
Charis @ Culinary Storm
Himanshu @ The White Ramekins
Ruchira @ Cookaroo
Rekha @ My Tasty Curry

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Also find me on The Rabid Baker, The Times of India


No Bake | Date & Prune Chocolate Truffles … truffles on a diet don’t get better than this #festivefood

“Life is like a box of chocolates … You never know what you’re gonna get.” Forrest Gump

Date, Prune & Walnut Chocolate Truffles are something I never thought I’d make. Yet a chance FB update sighting a while ago set me on the track. And my, what a great idea. Healthy, delicious, a power house of energy and guilt free indulgence, truffles on a diet don’t get better than this!These were fun to make, and so fast track! No bake, no cook, practically no work … almost like instant gratification! I got to step one in a matter of minutes but one bite into it was like, “Ummm nice, but something was missing, not indulgent enough“. Into the fridge they went!They sat there bugging me the next morning. Thought of adding some dark chocolate to the truffles and running them in the processor again but the task of remaking the little balls bothered me! Seemed daunting for a fast track dessert.Next idea, and it turned out to be a good one. The dark couverture I had ordered reached that same morning. Melted some in the microwave and had such a great time dunking each little ball into luscious, thick, satiny melted dark chocolate.Melted ooeey gooey dark chocolate is strangely therapeutic.  Is it just me? Whatever, but I really enjoyed this part and was rewarded in a while.These were GOOD! The teen loved them till the junior told her they had dates. “I don’t like them“, she declared, but soon was back digging into the bowl. ‘These are really good,” she declared. “Butter?” … the diet goes on, very conditional though!!  {Note: Thank you Sangeeta for the wooden board above. I ♥ it!}These make for good gifts in the festive season. They were a great addition to the Porcelain Buono Decoration Plate Silver from Urban Dazzle. It’s quite reasonably priced too. This was one of the many products I received for review which I shared when I made one bowl cocoa wholewheat almond brownies .About the truffles. They have a wonderful texture. You can play around with the combinations since both prunes and dates afford a good sticky base. Don’t like walnuts, use almonds. Don’t like nuts or are allergic to them, use dark chocolate, crystallised ginger, candied peel. Roll them in sprinkles after the dark chocolate has almost set; jazz them up if you like! Also, thank you Urban Dazzle for giving me a chance to review your Diwali range. I really love the variety and the quality of stoneware, ceramic, porcelain, drinkware and bakeware. You can see some of the range in my picture up there. I did wholewheat gingerbread men the other day and they looked so HAPPY on the platters, ornamental & ceramic.I also did a vanilla panna cotta in three flavours paired with three dessert sauces – coffee with a dark chocolate sauce, raspberry with a raspberry lime sauce, and saffron with  salted caramel saffron sauce! Then did mini panna cotta in these tiny little white ceramic bowls, three on a plate {The honeycomb plate is from a set my sis sent me from the US. White love!}The bowls are really versatile. Dipping sauces look great served with them. Else a good extra virgin olive oil, sea salt and queen olives with a sour dough bread served on a matching Mediterranean inspired ceramic platter! So much inspiration …

[print_this]Recipe: Date & Prune Chocolate Truffles

Summary: Healthy, delicious, a power house of energy and guilt free indulgence, truffles on a diet can’t get better than this!

Prep Time: 15 minutes Total Time: 40 minutes Ingredients:

  • Truffles
  • 100g dates {seedless}
  • 100g sundried prunes
  • 100g walnuts
  • 20g cocoa powder {3 tbsp}
  • 15g extra virgin olive oil {1tbsp}
  • Chocolate coating
  • 100g good quality dark chocolate melted {I used a 53%}

Method:

  1. Truffles
  2. Place dates, prunes and walnuts in bowl of processor and process for a minute or so until everything gets chopped fine. Taste and adjust sweetness if required adding more dates or prunes. {Thermomix: Speed 8, 30 seconds, repeat if necessary}
  3. Add the cocoa powder and olive oil and process briefly to mix. {Thermomix: Speed 8, 20 seconds}
  4. Roll into bite sized balls packing firmly.
  5. Dip into the melted chocolate and leave to set on a parchment lined tray in the fridge for 15-20 minutes.

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Bloggers Table | The Leela, Gurgaon … excellence in everything they do!

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”
Eleanor Roosevelt

The Bloggers Table was privileged indeed to be hosted at the award winning Leela Kempinski, Gurgaon for a memorable Italian meal at Zanotta a few nights ago. It’s one thing having a philosophy of “Atithi devo Bhava – Our Guest is God”, and it’s another thing delivering it in every sense of the word. The Leela did just that! Hospitality and culture so seamless that in many ways it felt surreal!The Leela culture is noticeable in every employee. You can see the deep rooted Indian tradition, the entire team that works seamlessly to deliver the promise. Enter  the lobby and look around, magically a genie appears; helpful, polite yet completely unobtrusive. It’s a beautiful hotel but more importantly run by outstanding folk!That was pretty much the ‘experience’  through the evening enjoyed in excellent company – GM Leela Roger Wright, Head – PR & Marketing Communications Vinay Narang,  F & B Manager  Shisheer Manohar and Exceutive Chef  Emmanuel Guemonl from France.

Photo courtesy Rekha @ http://mytastycurry.com/

It was a pleasure to share the table with Roger Wright. His stories that ranged from Fiji, Down Under {a New Zealander}, his family, his commitment to staff training and motivation … and of course his tempting invite for a dosa Sunday brunch the next day {We sadly declined as ‘the table’ was off to Rose Cafe the next afternoon. That turned out to be another story altogether}

The Leela Kempinski Gurgaon was presented the Best 5-Star Deluxe Hotel (India) award, March  2011 & 2012. Zanotta was Times Food Award’s pick for Best Italian in the Region in both 2010 and 2011. If they hadn’t picked it for its outstanding Italian cooking it would have won awards for architecture and ambiance. The open display kitchen and private dining rooms are surrounded by the  see-through wine cellar of breathtaking proportions. 

Zanotta did not disappoint. From the welcome drinks served in the retro lounge that adjoins the restaurant on the 6th floor, to the company, the evening was delightful.What a memorable meal. We found ourselves reaching out for the bread basket time and again. I opted for the  vegetarian selection and absolutely LOVED it! The soft mozzarella and arugula salad with tomato, orange and basil pesto had everything right. The Minestrone alla Zanotta with pumpkin and rice was amazing too. I am not ‘soup person’, but was transformed rapidly into one! The next course was common for both  vegetarians and non-vegetarians. Home made ravioli stuffed with wild mushrooms floating in a silky smooth tomato sauce. A sprinkling of freshly ground pepper and you could sense how nicely the flavours married! Perfect again. Then came the show stopper, something Roger introduced to Leela from Down Under – a sorbet but not just any sorbet! It was dramatic sorbet served in a snow globe of sorts, sitting on a bed of ice. You could hear a loud collective gasp when the very delicious sorbet appeared. A work of art!Crespelle with spinach & ricotta {♥♥♥} followed. These were  ‘Florentine style’ pancakes stuffed with ricotta and spinach, served with tomato and parmesan. Amazing, cheesy and to die for! The portion sizes were just right and fresh produce brought out the best flavours in each dish!Excellent wines were paired with each course. They included Chardonay from New Zealand and another from France, Allegrini from Italy, and a Cabernet Shiraz from Australia. Time for dessert and once again a winner! Bitter chocolate semifreddo with candied orange peel. Really nice!! {I had to finally abandon the camera because the light was really low!}The NCR has some beautiful luxury properties, and The Leela is one of the finest examples. The group takes pride in it’s people, the ‘bedrock of the organisation‘. Warmth, positivity, camaraderie; the ease of relationships up and down the hierarchy is so visible and so comfortable.

Couldn’t have asked for anything better! Thank you Roger Wright and your wonderful team!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The other bloggers at The Leela that night were

Sid @ Chef at Large
Rekha @ My Tasty Curry
Himnashu @ White Ramekins
Charis @ Culinary Storm
Parul @ Shirazine
Sangeeta Khanna @ Banaras Khana
Ruchira @ Cookaroo
Antara @ Antypasti

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Baking | One bowl cocoa wholewheat almond brownies … Alice Medrich {#urbandazzle}

“I am endlessly inspired and challenged by ingredients and flavors; the craft involved both in bringing them together and writing about the process.”
Alice Medrich

Cocoa Wholewheat Almond Brownies are a sweet opening to October, plated on the  new Diwali/festival gift collection from Urban Dazzle. Baked out of desperation since I had no good quality baking chocolate on hand, the wholewheat brownies were good unbelievably good!! They are adapted from a recipe by Alice Medrich – author, dessert chef, chocolatier.Alice Medrich is an iconic baker who changed the way we looked at food, desserts, chocolate and baking of course. She’s written a series of  cookbooks, the latest one Sinfully Easy Delicious Desserts. Of the 9, Bittersweet and Pure Dessert are two of my favourites. Food weaves a magical pattern. I baked an adaptation of her Orange & Olive Oil Cake in 2008. Some time later I made delicious  Dark Chocolate, Walnut & Craisin Scones from a recipe @ David Lebovitz , another hugely talented cookbook author, dessert maker, ice cream man, story teller. Turned out that recipe was an Alice inspired one too.In late 2008, me, a very timid and shaky food blogger in far off North India, virtually met Alice via the Daring Bakers Caramel Cake with Caramelised Butter Frosting. Her Golden Vanilla Bean Caramels was an optional part of the challenge. Those caramels didn’t happen as we were just back from a trip to Sydney where the daughter fell ill with jaundice, was hospitalised …. and what not! Yet, it was another intriguing window into the creative world of Alice Medrich.Did I just forget to mention the Pebbly Beach Fruit Square cookies pictured above? Adapted from her cookbook “Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy: Melt-In-Your-Mouth-Cookies”, these are typical Alice style. Classic, comforting and high on taste. The fruit squares recipe is highly adaptable.

Buono Decoration Plate Silver

So when I craved baking brownies and googled for a cocoa version, one of the first matches was a Medrich recipe. There was no looking further. I experimented with substitutions mainly because of the high-ish butter content. Using just whole wheat flour and almond meal instead of plain flour, they turned out to be brownie heaven – deep, dark, chewy, moist! Importantly, one bowl cocoa wholewheat almond brownies; hand whisked and with minimal clean up! The bell rang while the brownies were cooling off, and it was the new festive Diwali range of products from Urban Dazzle. Seemed like an early Christmas as I got a staggering array of their recently launched festive ware which includes stunning stoneware, ceramics, porcelain and much more.Stoneware is right up my street and the colours and texture hold instant appeal, the quality excellent too!  The soothing blue stoneware platter above with a Mediterranean appeal; and cups, mugs, soup bowls all in pretty colours, stuff you can mix and match. The good thing is the almost inexhaustive choice. You feel like grabbing it all. And that’s the good part! If you love it, others will to.Urban Dazzle is quite a dynamic online option. An e-venture based in New Delhi, they are constantly adding aesthetic, stylish and reasonable  kitchen accessories and home decor items. With Diwali around the corner, they promise to take some burden of gifting off your shoulders… though the extensive range promises to overwhelm you with what to choose & what not!You might like these stunning glasses, or a banquet footed platter, chic Borgonovo bottles, pot bellied  jugs and carafes … the variety is endless!A while ago someone inquired about these white ribbed fruit plates that I recently used for the Empanada Gallegas. I got mine all the way from Sydney two years ago. Imagine my surprise when I saw them on Urban Dazzle a few days ago! Raise a toast,  browse the topsellers, … or then just hit the ‘Sweet Spot’!

 [print_this]Recipe: One bowl Cocoa Wholewheat Almond Brownies

Summary: Single bowl cocoa brownies. Dark, deep, chewy, moist, chocolaty … and made with whole grain. Makes 16-20 squares. Recipe adapted  from Alice Medrich.

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Ingredients:

  • 140g unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 80g cocoa powder {3/4cup}
  • 110g raw sugar {1 cup}
  • 2 eggs
  • 30g wholewheat flour {1/4 cup}
  • 25g almond meal {1/4 cup}
  • 1tsp baking powder
  • pinch salt
  • 100g dark chocolate chips

Method:

  1. In a large heat proof bowl, melt the butter, cocoa and sugar in a microwave for 1 minute. Whisk well until smooth.
  2. Whisk in the eggs firmly one by one.
  3. Whisk in the flour, almond meal, baking powder and salt and then whisk briskly for about 1 minute until the mixture becomes smooth and glossy.
  4. Fold in the chocolate chips and pour batter into prepared tin
  5. Bake at 180C for about 25 minutes.
  6. Cool for about 20-30 minutes before slicing {if you like them warm}, else cool, chill and then slice.

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Baking | Empanada Gallega … Daring Bakers at their best!

“I celebrate food every day, it’s sustains us and forms who we are.”
John-Bryan Hopkins

It was the 27th and my mind was singing Empanada Gallega … only that procrastinating got the better of me this time around. It’s the Daring Baker time of the month, and this time I got deluged with work. Not that I didn’t do the challenge; I didn’t draft the post in time. From Filled Pate a Choux Swans last month to savoury pies in September, the journey gets more delicious every month.

Patri of the blog, Asi Son Los Cosas, was our September 2012 Daring Bakers’ hostess and she decided to tempt us with one of her family’s favorite recipes for Empanadas! We were given two dough recipes to choose from and encouraged to fill our Empanadas as creatively as we wished!

I was instantly attracted to the origin and inspiration behind these charming little pies. The story so beautifully and poetically narrated by Patri, it played in my mind as a film. In her words …

“My grandparents lived in a country house that my great-grandfather built a hundred years ago. It is in the northwest of Spain, right on top of Portugal, in the region called Galicia. Back in the 70s, the kitchen was the place of gathering, talking, reading… and there was always something cooking on the iron stove, be it a pot of caldo (a hearty soup), or a stew, or a cake in the oven. When I think back to those days, I can smell the sweetness of burnt wood or coal, the almost “chocolate” scent that rose up to your nostrils when you opened the door, the warmth of the air when coming in from a cool, windy and wet August morning…“

I knew instantly that I would be making these! The dough was ready in next to no time. I made the whole recipe for dough and have to say there was a LOT of dough! {I substituted a little bit of plain flour with whole wheat}. You can make one large pie, or many small ones. The dough lasted 3 days {keeps well in the fridge}. On day three I made Turkish pizzas with it. Wonderful stuff!

An empanada{or empada, in Portuguese} is a stuffed bread or pastry baked or fried in many countries in Western Europe, Latin America, and parts of Southeast Asia. The name comes from the Galician, Portuguese and Spanish verb empanar, meaning to wrap or coat in bread.

It’s an easy dough to use, and the recipe is interesting. You roll out the dough and use it like a pastry dough for pie, a larger portion for the bottom. Place it in your baking dish with a rim {step by step here}. Top with filling and cover with a smaller portion of rolled out dough and seam the edges. The amount of dough you use it up to you entirely. Since I’m trying {read desperately} to cut back on carbs these days, I rolled the dough really thin. It worked like a charm!As Patri says, Empanada is the kind of food that makes one go back to childhood. A bread-like dough that surrounds a vegetable frittata with anything you can imagine, from sardines to beef. Or filled with sugar, butter and fruit. Warm or cold, it was simple, pretty, and delicious.The amazing thing is that almost every region in the world has an empanada sort of preparation whether it be the curry puff from Malaysia, samosa and  gujiya from India, calzones from Italy, meat pies from Ghana, börek from Turkey, kibbeh from Lebanon … and plenty more! {‘Plenty’ reminds me of Ottolenghis new book ‘Jerusalem‘ that Shulie just shouted out about! Another winner, another cookbook on the wishlist. Sigh} I made a portion of lamb filled empanada galettas  as well {with the same lamb filling from the Lamb Purslane Pides aka Turkish pizza}. This is a handy basic empanada recipe and makes for great food on the go. Make one large empanada galletta or small ones, even petit work well in a muffin tray maybe, or in ramekins.

Do stop by here and check out some the amazing empanada galletas that will make you instantly crave pie! Thank you Patri for sharing your delicious childhood memories and recipe with us. Thank you as always Lisa of La Mia Cucina and Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice for hosting this fab kitchen!!

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Recipe: Empanada Gallega

Summary: A bread-like dough that surrounds a filling with just about anything you can imagine, from mushrooms, mince and cheese. Or filled with sugar, butter and fruit. Warm or cold, it’s simple, pretty, and delicious.

Servings: 10 {makes a 40cmx30cm square empanada / a 35cm diameter round empanada or 8-10 4″ round pies like I made.} Minimally adapted from here

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Ingredients:

  • Empanada Gallega Dough
  • 650g plain flour
  • 100g whole wheat flour
  • 480ml lukewarm water
  • 17g / 1 1/4 tbsp instant yeast
  • 10g / 2tsp salt
  • 60ml oil
  • 1 large egg for wash
  • Filling
  • 500g chicken mince
  • 100g / 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 6 cloves garlic, chopped fine
  • 1-2 tbsp dried herbs , or fresh
  • 1 tsp chili flakes
  • 4 small eggplants, chopped fine
  • 200g mushrooms, chopped fine
  • 1tbsp Worcestershire sauce
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 200gm mozzarella, grated
  • 2 tsp olive oil

Method:

  1. Empanada Gallega Dough
  2. Sift both flour into a big bowl and make a well in the middle. Rub the yeast in with your fingers.
  3. In a small bowl, mix the water and the salt.
  4. Now, using your fingers or a wooden spoon, start adding the water and mixing it with the flour-yeast mixture. Keep on working with your fingers or spoon until you have added enough water and all the flour has been incorporated and you have a messy ball of dough.
  5. On a clean counter top, knead the dough for approximately 10 minutes
  6. Stand mixer
  7. Mix the ingredients with the paddle attachment until mixed and then switch to a dough hook and knead on low for about 6 minutes.
  8. Thermomix
  9. Place all ingredients in TM bowl and mix on speed 6 for 30 seconds, then knead for 5 minutes.
  10. Clean and oil the big bowl you used for mixing and place the kneaded dough in it. Cover it with a napkin or piece of linen and keep it in a warm, draught-free place for approximately 40 to 50 minutes.
  11. Once risen, turn the dough back into a floured counter and cut it in half. Cover one half with the napkin to prevent drying.
  12. Spread the other half of the dough using a rolling pin. You can use a piece of wax paper over the counter, it will make it easier to move the dough around. Depending on the shape of your oven pan or cookie sheet, you will make a rectangle or a round.
  13. Now, the thinness of the dough will depend on your choice of filling and how much bread you like in every bite. For your first time, make it about 3mm thin (about 1/10th of an inch) and then adjust from that in the next ones you make.
  14. Sprinkle a little grated cheese over the bottom. Place the filling, making sure it is cold and that all the base is covered. Sprinkle a wee bit more cheese if you like. {Using a hot filling will make the bottom layer of the empanada become soggy. Be careful to avoid adding too much oil from the filling, try to make it as “dry” as possible.}
  15. Start preheating your oven to moderate 180ºC.
  16. I lined the bases on my ramekins with parchment paper to be on the safer side.
  17. Take the other half of the dough and spread it out to the same or less thinness of the base. You can use a piece of wax paper for this too. Take into account that this “top” dough needs to be smaller around than the bottom, as it only needs to cover the filling.
  18. If not using wax paper, move carefully the top to cover the filling. If using wax paper, transfer the dough, turn upside down, cover the filling and gently peel off the wax paper.
  19. Using your fingers, join bottom and top dough, when you have gone all the way around, start pinching top and bottom together with your thumb and index finger and turning them half way in, that way you end up with a rope-like border.
  20. When you are finished, make a 1 inch hole in the middle of the top layer, {or stamp out shapes with a tiny cookie cutter}. This will help hot air exit the empanada while it’s baking without breaking the cover.
  21. In a small bowl, beat an egg and add a tbsp of cold water. With the pastry brush, paint the top of the empanada with the egg wash.
  22. Place the empanada in the oven and bake for about 25 minutes for small pies and 45 minutes for a large one. Check that the bottom part is done.
  23. Let the pies cool on a cooling rack for about 20-30 minutes before trying to dislodge from pie tins/ramekins. Gently run a butterknife along the edges to ease them out.
  24. Filling
  25. Heat the olive oil in a wok and add the onions, garlic and red chili flakes {and dried herbs if using}. Sauté  over low heat until the garlic is fragrant.
  26. Add the chicken mince and roast on high flame till the mince its light golden, no longer pink {5-7 minutes}.
  27. Next add the chopped eggplant and mushrooms and sauté again over high heat until most the liquid has disappeared and the mince is quite dry.
  28. Season with salt and pepper, drizzle in the Worcestershire sauce and add fresh herbs if using. Give it all a good stir, stir until quite dry so the pastry doesn’t get soggy.  Cool completely before using as filling.
  29. Note: This makes a good chicken mince samosa filling too.

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Almond Chocolate Chip Cupcakes … and getting featured on Femina

“A good cupcake and a good life have many of the same ingredients – good timing, sugar, and spice.”
Evelyn Beilenson

Almond Chocolate Chip Cupcakes, my current favourites! A recent visit to the cupcake factory led me to hop back onto the cupcake trail after quite a long hiatus. Much to the teens delight, these little babies are beginning to show up more frequently now … dressed in butter cream and often  ‘undressed‘ too!Either way, they go like hot cakes. There is something endearing about a freshly baked cupcake! Of course, given the choice, the call is always for the ones lavished with butter cream. For school snack boxes though, the plain ones work great as it’s still quite warm here in North India.So when one of India’s most popular magazines Femina {first published in 1959} asked to interview me, with a photo shoot at home to follow, I wanted to bake something ‘nice‘, something original and something that was ‘me‘!

Femina is a magazine, published fortnightly in India. It is owned by Worldwide Media, a 50:50 joint venture between BBC Worldwide and The Times Group. It is primarily a women’s magazine and features articles on relationships, beauty and fashion,travels,women fight back, cuisine, and health and fitness. It also features articles on celebrities and cultural facets of Indian women.

The Almond Chocolate Chip Cupcakes were what I baked! A natural choice because these are my current ‘cupcakes on the go‘, healthy, requested quite often, good with frosting and good even without. You can play around with the pairings as you like. Just plain almond meal is nice and carries frosting well. Roasted chopped almonds would pair well with a chocolate ganache, or maybe hazelnuts with a Nutella frosting {YUM}. I like the texture that almond meal adds. It’s a nice feeling to throw whole almonds into your processor with a little sugar and soon have ‘healthy nut meal’. I continue to use ‘raw sugar‘ in my baking and that has worked well so far. It’s marginally better than processed sugar. The good thing is that you don’t need to grind it as it has a nice, fine grain. I’ve even begun using it in butter cream instead of icing sugar. Works a charm, and is cheaper too!!The Borgonovo Bottle Indro from Urban Dazzle has my home made pure vanilla extract that is now ready. The polka dot cupcake liners are ones that my sweet friend Bina sent me from the US quite a while ago. I use them very sparingly Bina because I really like them, and they remind me of you.  When I’m in a more rustic frame of mind, I like to line the muffin tray with parchment paper squares. It gives them a rough, earthy look!

[print_this]Recipe: Almond Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

Summary: ‘Cupcakes on the go‘, healthy, requested quite often, good with frosting and good even without. The almond meal adds interesting texture and taste to them. Makes 12

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Ingredients:

  • Cupcakes
  • 180g plain flour
  • 85g whole almonds
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • pinch salt
  • 150g raw sugar
  • 100g butter
  • 2 eggs, room temperature
  • 1/2 vanilla bean
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/4 tsp almond extract
  • 220ml 2% fat milk
  • 100g dark chocolate chips
  • Flaked almonds, optional
  • Buttercream
  • 100g unsalted butter, room temperature {not too soft}
  • 50ml low fat cream, chilled
  • 75-100g raw sugar {to taste}

Method:

  1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Line a 12 cup muffin tray with liners.
  2. Run the whole almonds in the processor with 30gm raw sugar in short spurts until you end up with a fine meal. Don’t over process else you might have almond paste! {Thermomix Speed 10, 10 seconds, repeat as required}
  3. Put in the flour, baking powder and salt and process briefly to mix. {Thermomix Speed 10, 20 seconds}
  4. Beat the butter and remaining sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, vanilla bean and vanilla extract and beat again for 30 seconds. {Thermomix Speed 4, butterfly attachment, 4 minutes for butter, and 2 minutes with egg. Remove butterfly.}
  5. Alternatively add the flour/almond meal mix with milk until just uniformly mixed. Donot over mix. {Thermomix: Add the milk and flour/almond meal mix and mix on reverse speed for 30 seconds, scraping sides once or twice}. Fold in the chocolate chips, and sprinkle over with flaked almonds if desired.
  6. Divide between liners and bake for 20 minutes/until risen and golden brown. Cool completely before frosting.
  7. Buttercream frosting
  8. Beat all ingredients until smooth and firm. taste and adjust sugar if required. {I keep the butter on the cooler side, almost firm, as it is still warm-ish here
  9. Place into a piping fat fitted with a star nozzle and pipe onto cupcakes.

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