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Dark Chocolate Cheesecake with Wine Macerated Strawberries

So much chocolate. So little time!

Dark Chocolate Cheesecake with Wine Macerated Strawberries is really as good as it sounds and looks, and tastes even better. The cheesecake is a chocolate lovers delight – deep, dark, rich, sensuous, indulgent, sinful. With so many superlatives, I might well throw another in. It’s dead S I M P L E too! Make it ASAP and you’ll know just what I mean.It’s a recipe I’ve minimally adapted from Ruchira @ Cookaroo. She’s quite the best ‘chef’ I know. Her recipes are always quick, simple and foolproof. I’ve made this Dark Chocolate Cheesecake before and it was SO GOOD that I couldn’t wait to make it again.The recipe now lives in my head. I go about tweaking it here and there depending on what I have on hand. It’s a keeper! Minimal fuss, maximum taste! I throw it together in my Thermomix and it takes under 20 minutes to come together. I used digestive biscuits the last time. Didn’t have digestives on hand this time, so I threw in Hobnobs instead. Just as good! I do a lot of chocolate desserts, simple ones mostly. Simple recipes like these leave you a lot of time to think about what more you can do. I could have just gone naked {ahem} with the cheesecake, but a luscious rich chocolate ganache takes this beautiful Dark Chocolate Cheesecake to a delicious new level. How could I skip it. The cake was for a birthday, so now something had to be celebratory, I mean a little more celebratory. Also, so much time on hand makes me fidgety. I just have to do something more!

I thought maybe salter butter caramel and had visions of gooey goodness dripping off the edges. Yet when I opened the fridge, I saw a box of juicy fresh strawberries and I knew I had to have them on some way. Maybe do strawberries in balsamic vinegar? No, no, strawberries in red wine screamed the bottle of Shiraz at me.You might remember these Lamb Chops with Red Wine I made recently, best I’ve ever made. Rosemary, garlic, and a limited edition Shiraz came together ever so beautifully to create this dish with so much character and loads of depth. There was some wine left over, so red wine macerated strawberries it was going to be.Anything on my kitchen counter becomes an ingredient in my recipes. Loads of fresh oranges and star anise sitting pretty on the counter could only mean one thing. They would help flavour my macerated strawberries. In went the zest of an orange and a few star anise. They created delightful undertones as you can well imagine.The result was a flavoursome, beautifully coloured red wine topping which tastes as good as it looks. Here you go, the recipe is a must try. For me, it’s the only chocolate cheesecake recipe I’ll ever need! Thank you Ruchira ♥!

Dark Chocolate Cheesecake Red wine macerated strawberries

Dark, divine, sinful, creamy, chocolaty and above all, as simple as can be, this Dark Chocolate Cheesecake will leave you wanting for more. Recipe minimally adapted from Ruchira @ thegreatcookaroo.com. You won’t need another recipe ever! Can be made 2-3 days ahead of time.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 1

Total Time 13 10

Servings 8 people

Ingredients

Biscuit base

150 g Hobnobs or digestive biscuits
30 g cocoa powder
20 g organic jaggery granules
50 g butter

Dark Chocolate Filling

200 g dark couverture chocolate melted
300 g cream cheese
200 ml single cream
30 g cup cocoa
3 eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
90 g organic jaggery granules

Ganache

100 g 52% couverture
100 ml single cream

Red wine macerated strawberries

250 g strawberries chopped
50-75 g brown sugar
2-3 star anise
zest of one orange
100 ml red wine
40 ml orange juice

Instructions

Biscuit base

Whiz the biscuits, brown sugar and cocoa in food processor until you get a fine meal. Add butter, whiz again to mix. Press into 8″ loose bottom tin. Chill in the freezer while you get the filling ready, and the oven preheats.

Dark Chocolate Filling

Preheat oven to 160C.
Place all ingredients of the filling in bowl of food processor, and blend well to mix, 1-2 minutes on medium speed.
Pour into crust, and bake for an hour. Leave to cool in the oven, then cover and chill for 4-6 hours, better overnight.

Red Wine Macerated Strawberries

in a non reactive bowl, put in the strawberries, star anise, orange zest and brown sugar. Stir to mix, then pour in the wine. Stand covered in the fridge overnight.
Discard the star anise, and strain the strawberries. Reserve in a bowl. Place wine in a small saucepan with a quarter cup orange juice, and simmer until thick and syrupy. taste and adjust sweetness if required. Cool slightly, then pour over the strawberries.
Ladle the strawberries over the ganache. If the syrup is thin, reduce it further until nice and thick. Cool and pour over strawberries.

Ganache

Place chocolate and cream in a heatproof bowl. Heat in microwave for 1 minute. Whisk with a balloon whisk until smooth. Cool about 30 minutes, then whisk again. Chill until a little firm. Whisk once again till glossy and smooth, and holds peaks. Spread over chilled cheesecake.

SodaBottleOpenerWala, Khan Market …. a second branch of the quirky Irani Cafe, this time in Delhi

“The belly rules the mind.”
Spanish Proverb

SodaBottleOpenerWala, Khan Market. It was just going to be a matter of time. When AD Singh opened the now almost iconic SodaBottleOpenerWala in Gurgaon it made waves across the NCR. Soon there were groans from folk across Delhi, pleading for a branch in their part of town. With many iconic Irani cafés, a quintessential experience of a near extinct culture and cuisine, downing shutters of late in Mumbai, one might have wondered why Delhi would even consider a rebirth here. Then again, this is AD Singh & Olive …he got it spot on! Again.

You know I loved the first SBOW that opened closer to home in Gurgaon. I never stopped talking about it. Recently we heard whoops of joy from the Dilliwalahs. A Bawaji joint was opening in the heart of Delhi, and they were loving it! What better location for an iconic Delhi Parsi Cafe than the iconic Khan Market, vibrant and bustling. Tucked away in the heart of Khan market, Olive pays tribute to the dying legacy of the Irani café … bringing it to life in style!

SBOW at Khan is located on the first and second floor off a long winding food lane, very old world charm. Quite unlike the Cybercity venue which is very retro, French cafe street feel on the outdoors, set amidst new architecture. The feel within is the same … chaotic, crowded, bustling, colourful, quirky, eccentric and real world Irani café. Up the steep stairs in Khan Market and you are once again ushered into a different world. Framed pictures in sepia and black and white from generations of Parsis unknown, actual antiques, quirky quaint mirrors, quotes so reflective of this small tight knit community. Barni glass jars, tiffin carriers, taxi meters, cuckoo clocks, tin boxes…paraphernalia galore, it’ a feast for the eyes!

It was a cozy small get together at the launch … food enthusiasts from across the NCR, AD Singh in gentle attendance, drinks and food flowing non stop. Such a fun opening menu brought together by an ace team , drinks did the rounds with the heady Bawaji Nu Thullu and Raspberry Soda amongst the most popular, with the Shikanjiben following a close second. It was time to abandon the camera and nonsensical light headed banter took over!

With drinks can food be far behind? The menu sees several new additions and make overs from the first branch. My absolute favorites in starters were Mushroom on Khari, Breach Candy Awesome Okra, Tareli Macchi, Chicken Baida Roti. The egg lovers didn’t stop ranting about the Dukkar Galli John’s Famous Egg Sandwich, and couldn’t tear themselves away from it either. Everyone ate lots. LOTS!

Soon came main course. Main course? I was stuffed already but one look at the Berry Pulao, a lamb berry pulao at that had everyone grabbing forks again. It is the best offering from SBOW and one not to be missed. It’s a must try on their vast and intriguing menu. Add some Bhendi Bazaar Sheekh Paratha and Kolmi Fry and this gastronomic Parsi journey is even happier. Did I mention the sweetest and funniest young stand up comedian Danesh Irani? That too. He had the captivated audience roaring with laughter with ‘The Last Parsi’ written by Meherzad Patel.

Dessert anyone? I groaned as I was ready to burst but can you keep the fingers away from the delicious to the last crumb 5 Star Brownie? Not possible at all. Also impossible to resist is the Toblerone Mousse which is smooth, silky, indulgent … divine. Glass scraping good stuff. Another very interesting dessert addition is the Bun Maska Jam. Pillowy soft white buns smothered with butter and jam send you right back into a nostalgic journey into the past. Yes they’ve got it spot on. Again! It’s a celebration of a cuisine that faced possible extinction and exposure to a community which is very small and largely unknown for it’s cuisine in North India. Ad Singh with his wonderfully talented team has given Delhi a memorable foodie destination, not once, but twice over! Kudos to the team behind this legacy … very talented and quite unassuming Mohit Balachandran from the food blog Chowder Singh who’s been active with Olive for several years, Head Chef Kulbeer, Cuisine authenticator and Parsi Chef Manager Anahita Dhody

Don’t miss a post Also find me on The Rabid Baker, The Times of India

Avocado Dark Chocolate Buckwheat Cake #glutenfree

“I ♥ Avocados”

Avocado Dark Chocolate Buckwheat Cake {Gluten Free}…a cake inspired by so much avocado goodness that we saw at the New Zealand Avocado Season Launch. Last week saw loads of avocado recipes churned out by the very talented and sweet Chef Kunal Kapoor at the New Zealand High Commission, New Delhi.

Celebrity Masterchef Kunal Kapur said “New Zealand Hass avocados are an amazing healthy and versatile wholefood that contain the good fats needed to maintain a healthy heart. They interestingly blend with everyday Indian meals and the soft buttery texture and nutty flavour goes really well with many traditional dishes such as Bhel Puri and Tawa Pulao. They also blend seamlessly with curries”.

It’s always interesting to see what the chef does with food, creating innovative recipes, often off the beaten path. He put avocados right into the heart of Indian cuisine, the pairings quite unexpected and intriguing. I loved the idea of a New Zealand Avocado and Cheese Parantha, New Zealand Avocado Bhel Puri, New Zealand Avocado & Cucumber Soup, AVAVZA Avocado & Vanilla Srikhand and a New Zealand Avocado and Kiwi Lassi. Other recipes included New Zealand Avocado and Chicken Kebabs, New Zealand Avocado and Coconut Stew, New Zealand Avocado and Tuna Cheese Toast, New Zealand Avocado Tawa Pulao, New Zealand Avocado & Coconut chutney.

Health benefits of New Zealand Avocado
Beautiful skin The vitamins & antioxidants in Avocado can improve your skin from the inside
Energy & vitality The iron, niacin and vitamin B6 in Avocado support energy levels and help to unlock energy from your food
Healthy heart The good fats and omega acids in Avocado help to maintain healthy cholesterol levels
Nutrient booster Avocados help your body absorb more nutrients from other foods they are eaten with
Protection Vitamin C in Avocado contributes to protection of cells from free radical damage
Healthy digestion Fibre in Avocado keeps your digestive system in shape

It was an interesting and fun evening, with loads of good company too. Two of my favourite chefs I recently spoke about were there – Kunal and Saby, or formally Master Chef Kunal Kapoor and Chef Sabyasachi Gorai. Also present were a great bunch of foodies. The evening disappeared amidst non stop banter, laughter, fine avocado based bites, and choicest NZ wine.

We came away with an avocado each. I swapped my normal green one for this ripe one because I fell in love with the pinkish red hue. It seemed a good fit for Pinktober too! I had an idea in my head after all the avocado talk! Back home, my ripe and ready to eat av headed for a gluten free chocolate cake; a cake where the New Zealand Avocado and Indian buckwheat flour aka kuttu ka aata met. Fab pairing!

The cake was yet another experiment. A delicious one. I was fairly confident it would work, but you really never know until you slice it, nibble at a few crumbs etc. It was divine. Fudgy fudgy fudgy. Sinfully chocolaty too; a fallen chocolate cake.

I substituted 50% of the fat {butter} with the mashed avocado to reduce the fat content and add some fibre, iron, niacin etc. The Avocado Dark Chocolate Buckwheat Cake {Gluten Free} tasted even better the next day. Maybe the flavours matured. It was fudgier, the chocolate taste was deeper, and it stayed as moist as moist could be. The crumb is delicate because the only flour in here is a gluten free buckwheat flour, or ‘kuttu ka aata‘ as locally called. Handle it with care!

Try this if you like. You can always use almond meal to keep it gluten free, or use whole wheat flour to keep it healthy and whole grain. It’s been a while since I’ve used plain all purpose flour, and I’m not in a hurry to do so! Hope you enjoy it as much as we did. I might skip the butter altogether next time.

Well now I’m going to keep my eyes open for more avocados as I have a few sweet and savoury ideas brewing in my head. Avocados are not commercially grown in India. They do grow down south in a few private gardens as I remember seeing the beautiful fruit hanging off trees when we went on a midnight walk while attending the IFBM in August! Until then, it’ll have to be New Zealand avocados for me!

[print_this]Recipe: Avocado Dark Chocolate Buckwheat Cake {Gluten Free}

Summary: Avocado Dark Chocolate Buckwheat Cake {Gluten Free} is divine. Fudgy fudgy fudgy. Sinfully chocolaty too, this fallen chocolate cake tastes even better the next day. It is fudgier, the chocolate taste deeper, and it stays as moist as moist can be. The crumb is delicate because the only flour in here is a gluten free buckwheat flour.

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Ingredients:

150g dark chocolate {52%}, melted
50g unsalted butter, room temperature
150g ripe avocado flesh {from 1 md avocado, mashed with a fork}
2 eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
150g brown sugar
1tsp baking powder
pinch salt
50g buckwheat flour {kuttu ka aata}
10g popped amaranth for topping {optional}

Method:

Preheat the oven to 170C. Grease and line the bottom of a loaf tin.
In a large bowl, whip together the melted chocolate, butter, avocado puree, vanilla extract and eggs until smooth and light.
Add the sugar, baking powder and salt and beat again for a minute to incorporate.
Fold in the buckwheat flour and transfer batter to prepared tin. Sprinkle over with popped amaranth if desired.
Bake for about an hour / until done using the tester.
Leave to cool in the loaf tin. Loosen edges and gently turn out of tin.

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

French Fougasse with Roasted Red Bell Pepper, Garlic, Walnut & Mozarella … #fortheloveofbread

“If thou tastest a crust of bread, thou tastest all the stars and all the heavens.”
Robert Browning

Bread we love! French Fougasse with Roasted Red Bell Pepper & Garlic, Walnut & Mozarella … one of the most satisfying, indulgent and ‘would sell like hot cakes’ breads I’ve made ever since I’ve got back into bread baking mode! There’s been a bread baking frenzy of sorts and the net seems knee deep in dough!I switched into bread baking mode with wonderful wonderful Ottolenghis focaccia and there’s been little looking back. That was a most excellent bread to bake … deep, rustic, complex flavours. The stamp of Ottolenghis culinary brilliance!! It must have been more than a coincidence to find Jamie in Nantes baking focaccia too … whihc is how I walked into the Twelve Loves Challenge. What is that? Simply said, an event ‘for the love of bread‘!

I missed their August challenge but looks like carbs all the way this month and the bread monster is alive and kicking yeast on PAB! The September Twelve Loaves Challenge calls for Bread with Cheese; for me it meant baking French Fougasse stuffed with cheesy goodness, a bread we LOVE at home.

In French cuisine, fougasse is a type of bread typically associated with Provence but found (with variations) in other regions. Some versions are sculpted or slashed into a pattern resembling an ear of wheat.

I’ve baked this often, always with fresh yeast and plain flour. This time though, with carbs threatening an overdose, I did a tiny substitution with whole wheat flour and used instant yeast. I also literally stuffed the dough, almost making it a more like a baked sandwich than bread. It was delicious … and disappeared soon! I didn’t have Gouda so used mozzarella instead. Any cheese is good and mozzarella was great … warm, stringy, flavourful, cheesily indulgent.You could always halve the cheese but mine had a good dose ‘For the Love of Bread’ of course! Bread with Cheese Twelve Loaves is kneadlessly hosted by my sweet baker friends – Jamie @ Life’s a Feast, Lora @ Cake Duchess and Barb @ Creative Culinary. They are immensely talented ladies, inspirational too.Along side, the very viral FB group on CAL took off and we voted for a bread baking event … it was time to Tame The Yeast Beast. A lot of bread talk took place – dough ‘mentoring‘, recipe swaps, inspirations across the board, ideas exchanged, meals virtually dug into … The flour and yeast industry must be feeling the upswing these days with home bakers doing bread from scratch across the globe!Never has it been a better time to ‘break bread’ together. There’s been plenty of bread talk, FAQs, fresh yeast vs instant yeast vs sourdough {sourdough bread above}, why the yeast won’t rise, the brand of flour, the temperature etc. I’m no expert but have found that more often than never it’s the quality of the yeast which plays spoilsport and gives rise to beastly failure!This week, I also baked my maiden sourdough bread thanks to Sangeeta who shared some sourdough with us at Veda. My bread didn’t come out looking too good, and the recipe needs some further experimenting. Sangeeta’s posted a wonderful sourdough FAQ on her blog and I now know my bread was pleasantly sour because it was proofed for 3 days. The kids loved the flavour … {Sorry about the photographs. All done in a rainy day hurry}Those loaves too disappeared pretty soon… some with lunch, and the rest as sandwiches for dinner. Will tweak the recipe and get sourdough confident soon. I want to make a San Francisco Sourdough bread one day … have you made one yet? Until then, here is one of my favourite meal breads for you, a French Fougasse, almost a meal in itself. Serve alongside a light salad {I did a chickpea salad}, steamed French beans or char grilled broccoli, maybe a soup.

[print_this]Recipe: Bread – French Fougasse with Roasted Red Bell Pepper & Garlic, Walnut & Mozarella

Summary: Bread we love! With carbs threatening an overdose, did a tiny substitution with whole wheat flour and used instant yeast. I literally stuffed it, almost making it a more like a baked sandwich than bread! Any cheese is good here and mozzarella was great. {Recipe adapted from The Practical Encyclopedia of Baking}. Makes 2 breads {each serves 4}

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 60 minutes {plus rising time}
Ingredients:

350g all purpose flour
100g wholewheat flour
300ml warm water {divided 250ml + 50ml}
1tbsp instant yeast
30g olive oil + 15g for garlic
10g /1.5tsp salt
1 red bell pepper, roasted, skinned, chopped
1 head of garlic, roasted
200g mozzarella, chopped {can decrease if desired. Can use Gouda, cheddar, well drained ricotta etc}
100g walnuts, chopped
Extra olive oil for brushing
Sea salt for sprinkling

Method:

Squeeze out the roasted head of garlic and mash with 15g /1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil. Reserve in a small bowl.
Take 50ml of water {lukewarm} & dissolve the yeast into it. Stir the salt and 30ml of olive oil into the remaining water.
Mix both flours, make a well in the centre and pour the yeast/water mixture into it.
Knead to a dough, kneading further on a floured surface for 8-10 minutes, till smooth & elastic.
Thermomix: Place both flours, salt and yeast in bowl of TM and whiz for 5 seconds on speed 10. Add the water and olive oil and mix on Speed 6 for 30 seconds, then knead in closed position for 5-6 minutes.
Place in an oiled bowl, cover the bowl with cling wrap & leave in a warm place for about an hour until doubled.
Punch down & divide into 2.
Roll one half out to about an 12″ oval, spread half the roasted garlic olive oil mixture on the base, sprinkle over half the bell pepper and half the walnuts. Season lightly salt and freshly ground pepper. Roll up gently like a swiss roll.
Fold over the dough 2-3 times on itself to incorporate the stuffing.
Shape each back into a flattish ball, then fold the bottom third up, & top third down to make an oblong.
Roll into ovals with a flat base, cut slits diagonally, three on each side. Pull slightly to open the cuts. {Repeat with the other half.}
Place on parchment lined baking sheets. Cover with cling wrap & leave to double for 35-40 minutes while you preheat the oven.
Preheat the oven to 220C, brush the loaves with olive oil, sprinkle over sea salt and bake for approximately 25-30 minutes till golden brown. Brush with more olive oil as they come out of the oven. Cool on racks. Serve warm {that’s how we love it} or at room temperature.

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Delicious Strawberry Apple Crumble … a very easy heart friendly dessert!

“In two decades I’ve lost a total of 789 pounds. I should be hanging from a charm bracelet.”
Erma Bombeck

I made this 2 days ago after the dieting diva was pestering me for dessert, with a condition that it must be healthy and low fat… and delicious of course. She has a penchant for strawberries, yet as I lazily dithered she loudly wished there was a diet food delivery service! I didn’t tell her that like pizzas, diet food here too is also just a phone call away. My belief often … what you don’t know, can’t hurt you!

As I learnt fairly recently, the concept of gourmet diet food delivery is catching on in India now as well. It’s a novel concept for folks on the go and customises a diet for individual requirements with consultation with nutritionist, keeping in mind individual dietary requirements, heart rates, lipid profiles and what not! It’s a concept that seems to work well here too as it breaks certain trends like fat and sugar laden meals which are traditionally prepared in Indian households where deep fried food and the lavish use of clarified butter is much the norm. What you get is a nutritionally balanced meal from each of the five food groups etc with a mix of complex carbohydrates, vegetables, lean protein {vegetarian or non vegetarian}, using a heart friendly oil like olive oil … with the promise to deliver delicious meals!

Making diet food is much my voluntary vocation at home these days, with the dieting teen refusing to eat otherwise. I dived into the fridge to put together a ‘healthy dessert’. Apples stared back at me and a box of strawberries. I knew just the thing I’d make… a fruit crumble. I find crisps and crumbles one of the easiest desserts to bake. They are therapeutic, satisfying and look pretty with fruit juices oozing out invitingly. For this recipe, use firm tart apples for this as they pair tantalizingly with sweet strawberries … We’ve bid a hasty adieu to winter and with it pears, apples. Even more hastily, we’ve welcomed summer. Spring was sweet and short , marked in India by the festival of colour, Holi, which as you can see above the kids enjoyed to the last drop of colour! Need I say more? {Just for the record, they are back to looking normal again!}. With Spring came strawberries that flooded the market for a bit.

Think summer in India and think Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the mid day sun … lyrics from a song I heard when I was a kid. It’s from the musical revue “The Third Little Show” (1924), Noel Coward and is about all I recall from the song. It paints a graphic picture of the blistering heat that beats down during the Indian summer, with Englishmen wearing sola topees {pith helmets often worn by the British in the tropics} walking about at noon! The song is amusing to say the least. Here are a few lines from the song …

Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun
The Japanese don’t care to, the Chinese wouldn’t dare to
Hindus and Argentines sleep firmly from twelve till one
But Englishmen detest-a siesta …

And as you hum the song, here’s a recipe for a heart friendly dessert with complex carbs, delicious fruit and low calories. Use fruit of the season, stone and pip fruit work great here, throw in a handful of chopped dry fruit, almonds, pistachios, walnuts etc, then throw in some tart cherries, craisins, raisins if you like, add some fresh herbs like thyme for a nice Spring feel … and bake until the juices begin to enticingly ooze out. ENJOY!!

Strawberry Apple Crumble

A heart friendly dessert with complex carbs, delicious fruit and low calories. Use fruit of the season, stone and pip fruit work great here, throw in a handful of chopped nuts then throw in some tart dried berries, add some fresh herbs! Enjoy

Course Appetiser, Breakfast, Dessert, Snack

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 28

Servings 4