Tag: book review

Book Review| The Tulleeho! Book of Cocktails … & an Orange Zinger

“Orange is the happiest color.”
Frank Sinatra

Orange Zinger A name like Orange Zinger seems so right for this time of the year, warm, spicy and zippy! It’s a cocktail from a newly released ‘cookbook’ {Food, Wines & Beverages category} in India, The Tulleho! Book of Cocktails. An almost unassuming book, yet one overflowing with mouthwatering mixes like Anarkali, Instant Karma … and of course this Orange Zinger! The book is a must have for cocktail lovers.When Blogadda, the largest community of bloggers in India, {who recently interviewed me too}, asked if I’d like to review a new cookbook, it was an instant YES, even though a book on cocktails was slightly out of my comfort zone. The name intrigued me, and the reins were promptly handed over to Mr PAB. An occasional cocktail is wonderful, but for someone who has NO CLUE about how to get one going, this book is the answer.Turn the pages and feel a happy high … for beginners in the world of cocktails, the pages hold your hand and guide you through gently, telling you that ‘making a cocktail is no rocket science‘!  Bar ware, stocking up, mixology … a book that helps you get the mixes right, helps you talk liquor with the ‘best of them’, and helps you pretend to know all about stuff even if you’ve never touched it.… and in case you are in the ‘ultra confident, been there, done that‘ category, know it all in the world of tippling, then head straight for either the Tullee Tipple which offers in-house special and contributions from the tullee community, or then to Classics – tipples that have been around for quite a while.The book offers an eclectic and stylish mix  of cocktails – Desi Dhamaka which uses local Indian ingredients, Market Fresh using at least one fresh ingredient, Old Boys’ Club which is obviously the male bastion, Dessert cocktails, Ladies Specials {hmmm???}, and quite fascinatingly, Herbs and Spices!Mr PAB quite predictably reached for the Old Boys’ Club and spent quite an hour pouring over the pages, recipe by recipe. The foodie in me helped pick out a warming, fall sounding recipe which was spicy and had orange in the listed ingredients {more specifically, bitter orange marmalade}. That made me take notice and painted my thoughts orange! NICE!!Also a good choice because I still have a jar of homemade bitter orange marmalade which I made earlier this year! This is possibly the quickest edible thing Mr PAB has ever made and served…LOL! He enjoyed it, the flavours pairing beautifully … can’t go wrong with orange and ginger.Warm and spicy undertones of bitter orange marmalade and the slight edge of ginger paired well with the whiskey. Mr PAB gave it high fives, and immediate set off turning pages of the book. If you like cocktails, try this. I like it because it has standard everyday ingredients and is a great fit for the holiday season. The passion of the authors shines through! Tulleeho!!

Tulleeho is also available as a Kindle e-book.

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This review is a part of the Book Reviews Program at BlogAdda.com. Participate now to get free books!

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Baking| Peach, Plum & Apricot Streusel Crumble … Fine Cooking In Season

” There’s nothing more exciting to cook than discovering a new ingredient or finding an interesting new way to use an old favourite.”
Fine Cooking In Season

My love affair with fruit in baking and fruit based desserts continues unabated, often bordering obsession. Got back rejuvenated from the vacation, exhausted too, to find an absolutely delicious looking book waiting for me in the mailbox. This finger licking good Peach, Plum & Apricot Streusel Crumble was just waiting to be baked!! Fine Cooking in Season: Your Guide to Choosing and Preparing the Season’s Best from the Fine Cooking Magazine. The cover had the most beautiful picture of juicy plums, blueberries etc. A quick peek within and outstanding photographs by Mathew Benson had me sold!The cover drew me to the book and at 2am I was leafing through it oblivious to the tired aching muscles etc. An almost 24hour flight from Sydney via Hong Kong forgotten, the tired kids suddenly unimportant as they fell into bed in a dazed stupor, suitcases all over the place … the book had me mesmerised!

“Fine Cooking in Season is like having an expert and friend guide you from the farmer’s market to your kitchen, helping you make the most of the delicious bounty available throughout the year. Focusing on produce at its peak is not only flavorful and inspiring, but also a natural way to get a variety of healthy food into your life.”–Ellie Krieger, host of Healthy Appetite on the Food Network and author of The Food You Crave.

Included in the package is a DVD with the Fine Cooking Magazine archive from 1994-2010;  for me a virtual treasure. Thank you Taunton Press {I think they sent it as I have no clue who mailed the book to me; it’s been signed by 3 good folk too…gracias} for a book I will always treasure, one thats found pride of place on my shelf. I love it!
This was going to be a nice distraction indeed from the monotony of post vacation chores. Unpacking suitcases, putting stuff away, not wanting to touch jackets in this hot weather, cooking to keep the troops happy, dusting the cobwebs off {2 weeks away in the summer and the spiders seem to have a party!}. A quick trip to the local bazaar and yay … all senses awakened, stone fruit were practically tumbling off shelves.I made this stone fruit crumble using 2 recipes. For the filling I used the Peach or Nectarine Cobbler recipe, and since the diva was on a diet and I couldn’t ‘pie’ the fruit, I decided to use the topping from a Ginger Streusel Pie recipe {with a few healthy changes like using 1/2 oats 1/2 flour instead of only flour, slightly reduced butter etc} … this was a celebration of stone fruit!I do love this season. The colours, the flavours, the charm of stone fruit … always like a dream. The crumble was addictive and difficult to keep away from, “sweetly tart and full of soul” … if you know what I mean. Add to it a nutty walnut streusel topping, crisp and delicious and you know this was meant to be.  The trusted Thermomix delivered the streusel in one quick whiz.Mr PAB was served his portion with a handsome drizzle of low fat unsweetened cream … and it was nirvana I hear. The lad got a small drizzle too. The teen & me looked at the cream longingly but voluntarily stayed away … there is a post vacation diet which holds ominous significance. 2 thin slivers were demolished by the teen and pre teen last night, with the lad hurriedly polishing off the last crumbs and asking if I could make some again, soon maybe? This is a book I certainly enjoyed for its pictures, its fresh ideas, and for its recipes contributed by some fine culinary gurus which include some of my favourites – Alice Medrich, Abby Dodge, Suvir Saran, Raghavan Iyer, Amanda Hesser among a host of other celebrated contributors.The next book for review on my list is this one by award winning journalist Stephen Fried. The book is interestingly titled “Appetite For America“; Fred Harvey and the Business of Civilizing the Wild West – One Meal at a Time. It’s a first ever biography of this visionary entrepreneur considered to be the founding father of the American hospitality industry and gastronomic culture. {I’m halfway through this fascinating journey … which ends in some delicious recipes. More on that in a later post}

[print_this]Recipe: Peach, Plum & Apricot Streusel Crumble
 

Summary:I do love this season. The colours, the flavours, the charm of stone fruit … always like a dream. The crumble was addictive and difficult to keep away from. Sweetly tart and full of soul, add to it a nutty walnut streusel topping, and its crisp and delicious!
Recipe adapted from 2 recipes from Fine Cooking In Season {pgs 134 & 200}

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

  • 4 large peaches, pitted and chopped
  • 6 apricots, pitted and chopped
  • 4 plums, pitted and chopped
  • Juice of 1 small lime
  • 1/2 cup vanilla sugar {or brown sugar}
  • 1 tbsp cornstarch
  • pinch of salt
  • 1/2 tsp almond extract {or pure vanilla extract}
  • 1 portion walnut streusel topping {recipe follows}

Method:

  1. Preheat oven to 200C.
  2. Toss all the ingredients in a large bowl immediately after chopping the fruit.
  3. Adjust sugar if fruit is too tart.
  4. Turn into a 9″ pie dish {or 6-8 individual baking dishes} and level out.
  5. Top with streusel, pressing gently to ensure the entire fruit is covered.
  6. Bake for 35-45 minutes until the juices are bubbling over and the topping is light golden brown.

Streusel Topping Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup plain flour
  • 1/2 cup rolled oats
  • 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped fine
  • 3/4 cup light brown sugar
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, chilled, diced {I used frozen}

Method:

  1. Place the flour, oats, walnuts and salt in the bowl of food processor and whiz briefly on low speed to mix.
  2. Add chilled butter and whiz in short pulses until you get a breadcrumb like mix. Reserve {This freezes well too}
  3. Thermomix instructions – Place all ingredients, including walnut halves in TM bowl, and process for 7 seconds, speed 5 until walnuts chopped fine. Add frozen, diced  butter and process for 7-10 seconds, speed 6 until you get a breadcrumb like mix.

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Cooking| Katchi Biryani … perhaps Hyderabads most renowned biryani

“Biryani is often called India’s signature dish”
Pratibha Karan

This was an opportunity I wasn’t going to miss. It took a little organising. Mr PAB had to come in early from work to get the kids off the school bus. I had to bake like a mad hatter all morning for the next day was an early  soccer match {read 7.30am reporting time…brrrr}, yet I HAD to be attend the event. It was a demo workshop for Pratibha Karans delicious Indian cookbook, simply called – BIRYANI!I remember twisting my younger sisters arm almost a decade ago to buy me Pratibha Karans earlier book Hyderabadi cuisine – A Princely Legacy, which at the time cost a princely sum. It is entirely worth owning. Every picture in that cookbook is royal, the commentary steeped in history and culture. Pretty as can be crockery and tableware, with ancient bric-a-brac, used in the photographs, A Princely Legacy is worth every page. I have cooked  from it often, had many questions for the ‘biryani expert’ … which is why I HAD to get to this biryani workshop.With such delicious thoughts in my muddled head, I hopped into a cab and was driven 25 miles in horrid traffic to get to the demo. The event was organised by Perfect Relations & Random House, hosted at  Godrej Nature’s Basket in Defence Colony, South Delhi.

The biryani is India’s most beloved dish — one that has spread to all the four corners of the country and assumed many forms. It originated in the Mughal courts, flowering in the jagirs of Awadh, and it is in Lucknow, Delhi and the small Muslim principalities of north India that one finds the classic versions, subtle, refined, and delicately flavoured. Pratibha Karan gives us not just the definitive recipes from these regions but unearths rare and old dishes such as a biryani made with oranges, Rose Biryani and Kebab Biryani. In the south, the biryani has an equally distinguished lineage, if not more so. There are the blueblooded biryanis of Hyderabad which include gems such as the Doodh ki Biryani, Keeme ki biryani and Bater ki biryani. Away from the royal courts, the biryani has adapted itself into a spicy local delicacy in Tamil Nadu, with many towns like Salem, Aambur, Dindigul boasting of their own signature version of the dish.

Pratibha Karan shared lesser known tips of biryani making with patrons of Godrej Nature’s Basket, and took them through the evolution of this mouth watering delight. She offered a blend of culinary, cultural and historical insights of this much loved dish, and shared her ‘Qabooli’ recipe {a vegetarian biryani} with special tips thrown in. The only disappointment was that there was no live cooking demo, which most patrons who attended the workshop expected. Else, it was a pleasure to hear her talk, to feel her passion for biryani and food culture, her eyes glistening with joy. She took questions from curious and enthusiastic foodies, guided them towards making the perfect biryani, sharing her expertise large heartedly. Armed with a copy of her book that Random House generously gave me, I left the workshop feeling uber-confident, ready to win the battle of biryani. {For those who are vegetarians, the book offers a number of delectable vegetarian biryani recipes too}.

It was just a matter of time and I got myself geared for the challenge. A challenge because I have had some miserable biryani failures of late, and have been cooling my heels on this particular front! I read the book cover to cover, wanted to try so many, and then finally settled for the Katchi Biryani, katchi meaning raw. In the authors words, “This is perhaps Hyderabad’s most renowned biryani. Both the rice and the meat are layered in an almost raw form in the pan. Therein lies it’s unbelievable magic. Many claim Katchi Biryani is th ultimate biryani dish”.I was sold, and just had to try my hand at the magic. I reduced the papaya marginally as I marinated the lamb overnight. I planned to ‘throw‘ together my biryani with minimal fuss the next afternoon, after returning from soccer, which is exactly how it went. Good planning {pat myself on the back}, it was a fuss free experience, and we waited with baited breath to see the outcome. It didn’t disappoint at all. My word, the aroma was great, each grain of rice was separate … I was walking on clouds. Mr PAB exclaimed it was the best ever; he had waited for this for 20 years! Wait no longer. Give this a go. After I made it and got it right, I did read a review on the web to say this was a fiddly biryani to get right. Maybe I’m plain lucky, or maybe I’ve ‘arrived’ on the biryani scene. Whichever way, this was a meal in itself, full of flavour, each grain of rice separate {test of a good biryani}, and tasted even better the next day!

Katchi Biryani
From ‘Biryani’ by Pratibha Karan, pg 76
“This is perhaps Hyderabad’s most renowned biryani. Both the rice and the meat are layered in an almost raw form in the pan. Therein lies it’s unbelievable magic. Many claim Katchi Biryani is th ultimate biryani dish.“
Preparation: 25-30 minutes
Marination Time: 5-6 hours
Cooking Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Serves 8-10
1kg mutton, mix of medium pieces from shoulder, and chops
1tbsp ginger paste
1 1/2 tbsp garlic paste
1 tbsp raw papaya paste {skin & pulp ground fine together}
‘A‘
4 onions, finely sliced {about 300gms}
15 green chillies, ground {I used 3 chopped, and 2 whole}
1/2 cup fresh coriander leaves, chopped
1/3 cup fresh mint, chopped
1 tsp garam masala
500gm yogurt, whisked
Juice of 3 limes
650gm long grain rice {I used basmati}
A liberal pinch of saffron soaked in 1/2 cup warm milk
2 tbsp ghee
150ml refined oil
Salt to taste
Method:
Wash the mutton, and drain well. Add ginger, garlic and papaya paste to the mutton, and rub in well. Set aside.
Heat 150ml oil, and fry the sliced onions in this until golden brown. remove from oil, cool a little, and then crush by hand.
Add the crushed fried onions, remaining oil that the onions were fried in, and the remaining ingredients of ‘A’ to the meat. Add salt to taste, mix well and leave to marinate for 5-6 hours. {I reduced the papaya paste by a 1/4 tbsp, and left my meat to marinate in the fridge overnight}
Rice
Wash the rice well. Soak for 20minutes. bring 3 1/2 ltrs of water with salt and 1 tsp oil to a boil. Once the water bbegins boiling, add the rice and cook for about 3 minutes, until 20% done. Drain immediately, and transfer rice to a flat pan.
Assemble & serve:
Transfer the marinated meat to a heavy bottomed large pan, and place over high heat. Stir until it comes to a boil, then cover and cook for about 10 minutes. Add a cup of water, and when it comes to a boil again, lower the heat and spread the partially cooked rice over the meat in a uniform layer. Cover with a tight fitting lid, and place a heavy weight/ stone over it to prevent the steam from escaping. Cook on ‘dum‘ for about half an hour. {I cooked mine for 25 minutes}.
Open lid, sprinkle the saffron milk over the rice, dot with the ghee, and cover once again with a tight fitting lid. Cook on very low heat for about 15 minutes, until the rice and meat are done and steaming hot. {I did the second 15 minutes of ‘dum’ cooking with a griddle under the pan. }
To serve, take out the biryani in large chunks from the sides without mixing to retain it’s multi-hued glory. Serve steaming hot.
Note: I grind a small green papaya, skin included, and freeze it in an ice tray. I keep the frozen cubes in a zipbag, and use 1 cube for 1 tbsp when required.

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Chocolate Creme Brulee … The Le Cordon Bleu Chocolate Bible

“Chocolate arouses as much passion among pastry chefs as it does fondness among chocolate lovers.”
Patrick Martin, Chocolate Bible

If there is one Bible you need this holiday season, it’s got to be the Le Cordon Bleu Chocolate Bible. A book that I first saw when I went to attend the LCB pastry workshop last month, amongst their other 2 publications – The LCB Cook’s Bible,  and LCB Desserts. I have had the LCB Cook’s Bible for a while now, a book which is in effect a culinary bible of how to cook. It is my ready reckoner from basics like eggs, milk, cream, dairy, to more involved stuff like spatchcocking a chicken, to making the perfect omelet etc. It includes also garnishes, presentation, serving suggestions … if there is a culinary question, the answers most likely in there!

Calling all chocoholics!

Le Cordon Bleu’s Chocolate Bible has arrived, showcasing over 160 recipes of chocolate heaven. Released October 2010, the Chocolate Bible is an English translation of the highly successful Petit Larousse du Chocolat, now offering Anglophones the chance to try their hand at Le Cordon Bleu’s decadent delights. From tarts to truffles, cakes to creams, this step by step guide is a must-have for chocolate lovers.

When I saw the Chocolate Bible at the Le Cordon Blue Pastry Workshop I was invited to attend, I was enamored by it, and am delighted to review it. It’s a book that every chocolate lover must have. The English edition is published by Carroll and Brown.

A lot of my readers write in to me asking for cookbook suggestions, especially here in India, as home baking is breaking new ground. This one book is a chocolate lovers dream, a book with recipes you can recreate, and easily so. The instructions are clear and simple. It’s not an overwhelmingly overdose of chocolate in any way. It is a sweet reaffirmation of the quote “9 out of 10 people like chocolate. The 10th person always lies“. I have seen self proclaimed chocolate haters, cross over and enjoy a good chocolate dessert, testimony to the charm and temptation this quintessential ingredient holds.The Le Cordon Bleu Chocolate Bible is a simple book without complicated techniques and exotic ingredients. It works on a basic premise that good quality basic ingredients, using basic equipment can turn out a delicious and creative recipe. In the book, the LCB chefs share their knowledge and techniques through a variety of recipes which are easy to reproduce by anyone, no matter what her or his level of skill might be.  It allows you to experience the charm of chocolate in all possible ways, offering something suitable for every occasion.

The book is divided into mouthwatering sections beginning with Temptingly Rich cakes, Tarts to Die For, Mouth-Watering Mousses & Creams, Iced Desserts & Sweet Drinks, Teatime Treats to Share…and ends with Delightful Mouthfuls! Each section begins with ‘The best way to – make a basic ganaché…, prepare pastry dough…, prepare a chocolate meringue…,fill éclairs…, temper chocolate etc. It’s a book worth owning and diving in to!  All along, it offers valuable tips and suggestions, picture tutorials for pastry making, working with chocolate, making garnishes, chocolate shavings, praline paste …. I could go on and on.I chose to try 3 recipes from the book on Boxing Day and I managed all 3 that afternoon. Was as simple as that. It might have taken even lesser time had i not stopped to run back & forth taking pictures. Ah well…that’s part of my culinary adventures, and another reason why I love the book so. The pictures are amazing, each say a 1000 words. The recipes I tried … first the Chocolate Creme Brulee because I needed a really quick and simple dessert that night. This was just the thing, and was soon in the oven. I began to ponder about ways to use up the egg whites I had on hand. The brulee needed 4 egg yolks, and I knew the whites would find their way home one way or the other. A quick look at the index and I knew Chocolate Meringues {with a chocolate Chantilly cream & strawberries} were a great choice. We had folk coming over for dinner in a few days, and these beauties could be made and stored in an air tight box for weeks in advance! Luxury for someone like me who loves advance planning. Brulee done and cooling, in went my little nests, to be baked for an hour.  I still had time on hand, so was egged on to turn more pages. Teatime was here and there was something charming about these Chocolate Chip Cinnamon Biscuits. Going by the picture, they were like cookies I had never baked before. The dough needed to be rolled and chilled for an hour, the perfect time frame for me, while the meringues baked in a low oven. Such fun juggling time slots! I was out of powdered sugar, so I took the Bibles suggestion and rolled the cookie dough cylinders in cocoa. Am glad I did because it provided great contrast and visual appeal. For me, food which looks good is very pleasing to the eye and palette; a pleasure to serve. A  little note: I found that the suggested baking times for all 3 recipes fell slightly short of the actual time taken. The creme brulee was nowhere set in 20 minutes, and a quick reference to the brulee recipe in ‘INDULGE – 100 Perfect Desserts’ by Claire Clark had me cranking the oven temperature to 150C and baking the brulees for a further 15 minutes. The meringues also baked for 30 minutes longer to get them crisp dry. The cookies took 17 minutes as against the suggested 10 minutes.

I would probably put this discrepancy down to calibrated vs non calibrated ovens. Professional ovens in test kitchens and the resultant timings are often different from home ovens. Also, the oven I recently bought is one imported from the UK and its baking function works just on the lower element. As with most baking books, I always take the suggested time as a rough guideline, so all was well.On the whole, the results were delicious. The brulee was rich, chocolaty and creamy … indulgent in every way. The meringues were crisp and delicious, chocolate flavours flooding the mouth with every bite, Chantilly cream & all. My teen tester was won over. She got to taste a few little meringues that were baked independently … just perfect she said. Maybe they’ll make wonderful kisses I thought. The cookies too were wonderful, and ‘The best I’ve had in a while’ declared the lad who was soon queuing up to play tester. I liked that the cookies were different from the regular chocolate chip cookies we make all the time; a great addition to the teatime cookie platter.I’m going to share the Chocolate Creme Brulee recipe with you today. Other temptations that I have bookmarked to try in the future are Chocolate Hazelnut Square, Chocolate Cherry Cake, Darjeeling Infused Chocolate Mousse & Columbian Coffee Cream, Iced Chocolate Parfait with Orange-Basil Cream, Old Fashioned Cream Souffle, Chocolate Coffee Dessert … to name just a few!

Thank you Surit Mitra for sending me the book. The distributor for CHOCOLATE BIBLE in India is Book World Enterprises of Mumbai. The book is available for Rs 1495.
Ctc 09820034530 (Mr Satish Shah)

Chocolate Creme Brulee
From Le Cordon Bleu Chocolate Bible, pg 138 {Printed with permission}
Serves 4
4 egg yolks
50g castor sugar
100ml milk {original recipe said 125ml}
150ml low fat cream {original recipe said 125ml whipping cream}
100g dark chocolate, chopped
Decoration
Caster Sugar
Method:
Preheat the oven to 95C/205F. Prepare 4 small baking dishes or low sided ramekins.
Combine the egg yolks and 40g of the sugar in a large bowl, beat until the mixture is cream and pale.
Heat the milk, cream and remaining castor sugar { I added a scraped vanilla bean too} until simmering. Add the chopped chocolate and stir until well cobined and smooth. Slowly stir the chocolate mixture into the egg yolks and sugar mixture. Pour the chocolate mixture into the dishes to come 3/4 up the sides.
Bake for 25 minutes, or until firm. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
Preheat the oven grill to its maximum temperature. Sprinkle the creams evenly with the castor sugar and place under the grill until the sugar has become a dark brown topping. Let cool and serve once the topping had hardened.
Chefs Tip: To correctly caramelise or gratinee the creams, put the oven rack as close to the heat source as possible.

My Notes: I decreased the milk and increased the cream as we do not get whipping cream locally in India. Also, whenever I do egg based desserts, I like to add a scraped vanilla bean. Feel free to omit this as it is not part of the original recipe. My creams took about 40 minutes to appear firm. I served mine with some preserved burgundy cherries.

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