Tefal Archives - Passionate About Baking

“Love yourself enough to live a healthy lifestyle.”

To juice or not to juice is often the question, and it’s a tough one to crack. Having given it a good thought, as old school as I may be, I think a juicer is a boon for people who live fast paced lives, have demanding schedules, fussy kids, love clear juice and fancy the idea of making the most of seasonal produce. For me, usually fussy kids who shy away from fruits are the ones will benefit most.Nothing can be better than knowing what goes into your glass of juice and serving it fresh, like a farm to table feel! It’s also real fun to have kids make their own juice. Once they get involved, see them enjoy the fruits of their labour, or virtual labour since their work is cut out. They can use a whole lot of combinations. Ideas after juicing – have as is, make mocktails, popsicles, granita, sorbet, slad dressings. The juice is also a great base for cocktails for adults!Then again, it’s quite fascinating watching fresh, clear colourful juice pour out into a jug, then bottle it up and enjoy it! The Tefal Juice Extractor allows you just that. Points to remember are that the quantity of juice pushed out depends on the water content of the produce. For eg 2 large mangoes and about 1/2 a pineapple will yield 2 glasses of juice. Since pineapple has a high liquid content, the juice output is higher. In season, sweet lime or orange juice is a great add. Also all pips, stones etc must be removed before fruit is put in.Produce like beetroot and spinach yield a small quantity of juice due to the dense nature of beets and that spinach leaves have little water. It’s best to combine them with a fruit or vegetable with a high liquid content. I like adding seedless black grapes to beet juice as it enhances the natural sweetness of beets. You could always add beet greens to the juicer as well if you are lucky to get a nice organic supplier, or are lucky to grow some at home. If you’d like to cut back on sugar, add cucumber instead of grapes. Throw in some celery, add a squeeze of lime.The possibilities are endless. I did three juices and it took all of 30 minutes. I think prepping the veggies takes far longer. The juicer is intuitive, easy to use and has a very smooth dial in front with 2 settings. Love the bright blue light that shines in front while juicing is in progress. There is also a generous jug to collect the juice quite neatly, and yet another larger jug to collect the pulp.If you are like me, where I don’t like wastage, then the thought will definitely creep into your head “What to do with all this pulp?“. Wastage feels bad and you can’t just throw out the pulp. The mango and pineapple pulp I just happily ate, but you can add it to your breakfast bowl, top with granola, some yogurt if you like.Stir it through a bowl of yogurt maybe, or add to that favourite smoothie.A quick search online adds to some thoughts I already had while juicing. There’s so much you can do with the pulp, that you should be happy to have the juice extractor on your shelf!! Here are a few ideas to set you off…

Add it to stock or soup
Up the fibre in a burger patties
Throw it into a smoothie
Deydrate it, grind to a flour. Bake with it
Blend it and use as a soup/gravy thickener
Make a dip using pulp as a base
Use it in pancakes
Make a iced tea. Steep with water, maybe tea leaves or tisae, strain, drink
Add it to nuggets
Use in pet feed as is, or make doggie treats
Freeze into ice cubes, and add to meaballs, or pasta sauce, or curries
Add it to your compost pile

Fruit & Vegetable Juices

A juicer is a boon for people who live fast paced lives, have demanding schedules, fussy kids, love clear juice and fancy the idea of making the most of seasonal produce. Here are 3 quick and fun juices to make in your Tefal Juice Extractor.

Prep Time 5

Total Time 5

Servings 2 people

Ingredients

Beetroot Grape Spinach Juice

3 beets scrubbed well, quartered
1 black grapes big bunch
2 cups spinach leaves

Peach Cherry Juice

6 peaches pitted, halved
2 cups of cherries pitted

Mango Pineapple Juice

1 large mango diced
1/2 a pineapple cubed

Instructions

Feed the fruit/vegetables through the tube of the Tefal Juice Extractor. Turn on the machine to speed 1, then speed 2.
Serve immediately, or chill before serving.
I didn't need any added sugar.

Dark Chocolate Quinoa Cake with Balsamic Cherries & Whipped Almond Cream … and how easy it was to bring the whole thing together using one basic magic machine in the kitchen. I’m talking about the Tefal Masterchef Gourmet that I recently received to review, and I have to say it is fab! Any new kitchen appliance is JOY for me, the prospects of using it to create something I enjoy, immense. Add to the experience the Tefal Hard Titanium Pan, and the joy doubled. I really enjoyed using the two.I’ve used Tefal products for a long time. Years ago when I worked with BA, I bought a lot of my appliances from the UK, and it was Tefal more often than never. I still have the Tefal Coffee Maker & Toaster for the 1990’s though it might well be a museum relic now! Just the nostalgia and connect to the days gone by made me happy to try the brand again now that it’s been launched in India.Unpacking the Tefal Masterchef Gourmet is like entering a candy shop. It has everything and more. The good thing about the machine is that it includes JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING you might need in the kitchen. Leaves you no requirement to buy additional appliances. I had to take a deep breath while unpacking as the bits and bobs seemed never-ending. I’ve yet to see a gourmet station that comes with a blender, slicer/shredder, meat mincer and juice extractor.I had to put it to use, and tried to churn out a cake using a few of the attachments. I have to say that the powerful 900W appliance did not disappoint. Seemed to do its job effortlessly and efficiently, with hardly any noise. My favourites were many, but the die cast beater that whipped up the cream to beautiful peaks won me over. Living here in India, that has to be one of the biggest challenges to making a layer cake with single whipping cream. {My secret is in the recipe below.}

Small amounts of cream just don’t get whipped up in large bowls, and often I reach for the electric hand beater. I like to make small desserts often for the family that are enjoyed and devoured quick. It gives me an opportunity to bake more often, keep experimenting and have fodder for the blog! It’s only when we have folk over that I need larger portions, and the large 4.6 litre capacity bowl works well for both.Thanks to its die cast beater and Flex Whisk Technology, the Masterchef Gourmet effortlessly whipped up the cream to beautiful peaks and made me SMILE! For me, that has to be the best thing ever. The appliance also effortlessly whips egg whites that are ultra fluffy and ultra airy, even from 1 egg up. That’s huge for me and for people who do home baking and need small portions. That it caters to larger portions as well is great!So I decided to experiment with a healthy chocolaty quinoa layer cake with a frosting, something much in line with my latest obsession of using whole grains. Add to it, the recent discovery of a love for quinoa, this was going to be fun. I put the blender to use for the quinoa, dark chocolate and wholegrain flour. The blender seemed light, yet was so efficient. It fits on top of the machine. It took me five minutes to figure out where it should go, but the French designed appliance had me covered. One look at the manual, and I found a neat hidden cap on the top.The appliance is very intuitive and fun to use. Within seconds, I had a crumb mix which I transferred into the large mixing bowl. In the next couple of minutes, I had batter. Really that simple! If you’d like a lighter cake, feel free to whip the single egg white separately, and fold it in gently towards the end.Flourless and wholegrain cakes generally have heavier crumbs, and it’s all a matter of taste. We love the bite and luxury whole grains offer. That said, I’m not a purist and I can’t wait to try a light as air sponge cake with the machine! Maybe that’s next!

While the cake was baking, I turned to the cherries. What a breeze. It aint no secret that I love good quality frying pans and this one from Tefal, the Hard Titanium Pan is my new love. Its Thermo-Spot ring turns full red when your pan reaches the right temperature for perfect searing. Fancy! The range has a pancake pan, a wokpan and 2 frypans.Also, you can use a metal spoon to stir, which is just so convenient. I don’t need to constantly switch between metal spoons I use everyday to special spatulas. And did I tell you that it’s easy clean? Yes, and how. I’m one of those who work in the kitchen and wash up everything and put them back when I’m done. The pan was a breeze to clean.So here’s the recipe, much in line with my current obsession of baking/cooking with whole grains and my hashtag of #makehalfyourgrainswhole. Happily, this is a trend that Tefal promotes too, “the emphasis is on family, sharing, and healthy ingredients“. You can make this cake eggless. Skip the egg, add a tbsp of yogurt but do note that the cake must be chilled and preferably not layered as the crumb is very delicate.You can also make it gluten free using oat flour instead of wholewheat flour. Same thing applies re the delicate crumb. Lastly, make this vegan by using coconut oil, coconut yogurt and coconut cream to experiment. I haven’t tried that yet but think of the immense possibilities. Once you have a kitchen appliance that works like magic sorted out, you can experiment endlessly! Have fun!

Dark Chocolate Quinoa Cake with Balsamic Cherries & Whipped Almond Cream

Flourless and wholegrain cakes generally have heavier crumbs, and it's all a matter of taste. We love the bite and luxury whole grains offer. This Dark Chocolate Quinoa Cake with Balsamic Cherries & Whipped Almond Cream is a simple one bowl cake. Topped with luscious whipped cream and seasonal cherries makes it a great tea or birthday cake. Recipe can be easily doubled.

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 45

Total Time 3 5

Servings 4 people