“Breakfast is everything. The beginning, the first thing. It is the mouthful that is the commitment to a new day, a continuing life.”
A. A. Gill
Kesari Halwa … another one in my breakfast series, and this one is probably the fastest one I’ve made to date. Least work too, or rather, nothing to it! Halwa is a very popular breakfast include in India, and almost every region has its own variation. The variation runs across meal courses too. Either which way, this is a much loved preparation, nostalgic too often.Up in North India, sooji ka halwa has always been popular on the breakfast menu. Eaten on it’s own, yet sometimes served with crisp puris, this semolina prep holds a special place. There are many ways to make halwa and kesari halwa is a popular rendition with an orangish colour brought on by the addition of saffron. Every house has a their own little recipe which is more often than never roasting the semolina/ suji, making a sugar syrup, then cooking the roasted suji together with the syrup until done. It is a little time consuming, needs you to stand and stir, and gives you a bunch of dirty dishes!Here’s a great alternative for those who crave a sweet breakfast, which has the natural goodness of grains, no preservatives, tastes good AND is ready in minutes. I’m talking about the Kesari Halwa from the MTR 3 Minute Breakfast Range. Importantly, there’s barely any cooking involved. None actually if you boil water in a kettle. As simple as putting the dry mix into a bowl, pouring hot water over it, giving it a good stir, then leaving covered for 3 minutes. Voila! You have halwa. That is it!! How good is this for busy mornings? Almost a magical preparation for breakfast in a hurry or on the go. Completely fuss free, and, honestly, the same consistency time and again! And the good thing is that you can eat it everyday!I made a simple video to show you just how simple making this Kesari Halwa is. Also, because it left me so much time, I thought I’d show you how to creatively present it. Breakfast and fruit is a firm favourite, so I served the halwa over pureed mango sauce {no added sugar}, with some seasonal phalsa berries, rose petals and mint from the garden. To finish, a scattering of saffron because it is Kesari Halwa after all, where kesar is the hindi term for saffron!
Try the breakfast for yourself and see how easy and yum it is. It’s available in cups as well for on the go consumption. I love plating and serving breakfast in fun sunshine bright colours to make one feel refreshed and active, ready for the day! And if you fancy something savoury alongside, then MTR offers a wide variety of savoury 3 minute breakfasts as well. Think Poha, Khatta Meetha Poha, Vegetable Upma, Magic Masala Upma, Oats Homestyle Masala…
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 minutesminutes
Cook Time 1 hourhour
Total Time 13 hourshours10 minutesminutes
Servings 8people
Ingredients
Biscuit base
150gHobnobs or digestive biscuits
30gcocoa powder
20gorganic jaggery granules
50gbutter
Dark Chocolate Filling
200gdark couverture chocolate melted
300gcream cheese
200mlsingle cream
30gcup cocoa
3eggs
1tsppure vanilla extract
90gorganic jaggery granules
Ganache
100g52% couverture
100mlsingle cream
Red wine macerated strawberries
250gstrawberrieschopped
50-75gbrown sugar
2-3star anise
zest of one orange
100mlred wine
40mlorange 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.
