Red Wine Strawberry Jelly with orange whipped cream
Light, fun, easy to make, and a visual delight, the Red Wine Strawberry Jelly with orange whipped cream is a great make ahead dessert. Visually exciting and flavours that pop, berries work really well in this recipe!
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Prep Time 5 minutesminutes
Cook Time 10 minutesminutes
Total Time 4 hourshours15 minutesminutes
Servings 6people
Ingredients
Jelly
650mlcranberry juice {550ml+100ml}
100mlred wine
50gbrown sugar
3-4star anise
2tspgelatin
250gstrawberrieschopped
Cream topping
200mlwhipping creamchilled
2-3tbspboora/powdered sugar
Zest of 1 orange/keenu
1/2tspstrawberry essence
Instructions
Jelly
Warm 100ml juice and pour over the gelatin in a small bowl. Stand for 5 minutes for gelatin to soften.
Put the remaining juice and star anise in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Take off heat, and stir in the wine, followed by the softened gelatin.
Divide the strawberries between the serving glasses/bowls. Strain the jelly mixture and pour into the glasses over the strawberries. Refrigerate for 4-5 hours until set and chilled.
Cream topping
Whip the cream, sugar and orange zest at high speed {with sugar if desired} until medium peaks form.
Top the set jelly with piped whipped cream.
Garnish with sliced strawberries and chill until ready to serve.
“Wine is just a conversation waiting to happen.”
Jessica Altieri
Smoky Baked Mushroom Cheese Dip is a definite crowd pleaser, and a great addition to the holiday table. Smoky Gouda, wine simmered mushrooms, garlic and fresh thyme make one of the best cheesy dips ever. Baked briefly under a hot grill until the cheese melts into gooey goodnes. Serve immediately with simple crusty artisan bread to soak up the wine juices and deliciously flavoured cheese.Think of cooking with wine and the mind often wanders into the sweet tooth territory. As much as I love working with wine in bakes and desserts, my taste buds are definitely savoury. Begin to explore savoury options with wine and suddenly new avenues open up. The list seems endless. Here’s one super quick, simple and absolutely delicious recipe to stir up with wine. I used a really nice crisp Sauvignon Blanc from Big Banyan Wines, and baked a rustic garlic and thyme bread to serve with it. You can pretty much use a store bought crusty artisan bread. They are great to mop up the juices with!The mushrooms and bell pepper browned in clarified butter, with a dash of Worcestershire sauce simmered in wine add earthy rustic flavour to the dish. With generous smoky cheese added to it, you can expect magic to happen. Make sure you use quality ingredients including a good quality wine. That is the secret of any good recipe!To begin with, the Sauvignon Blanc itself is really nice, one of the better Indian white wines I have to say. Crisp, delicately flavoured and very fresh! The whiff of green bell pepper undertones complimented the Smoky Baked Mushroom Cheese Dip really nicely. The dip is like a fondue; quite popular during winter. Try and bake it in a cast iron pan since the pan retains heat for longer, keeping the cheese nice and gooey. The other good thing about cast iron pans is that they can be popped back into the oven to reheat if the dip gets cold.In the unlikely event that you have some Smoky Baked Mushroom Cheese Dip leftovers, make a grilled panini sandwich with it, layering it with fillings you enjoy. Then sit back and enjoy the deep moorish flavours that tease the palate. It’s really that addictive, like a pizza in a sandwich!The wine would work well in a creamy pasta sauce, also as a marinade for chicken. Another great option is to make a Queso Fundido using wine instead of vodka. Then a step further a Queso Flameado, a dish of hot melted cheese and spicy chorizo that is often served flambé. Often compared to cheese fondue, this is a party dish and a popular appetizer.
Smoky Gouda, wine simmered mushrooms, garlic and fresh thyme make one of the best cheesy dips ever. Baked briefly under a hot grill until the cheese melts into gooey goodness, serve immeditaley with home baked bread or a crusty bread to soak up the wine juices and deliciously flavoured cheese.
Course Appetiser, Snack
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 5 minutesminutes
Cook Time 20 minutesminutes
Total Time 25 minutesminutes
Servings 3people
Ingredients
1tbspclarified butter/ghee
1tbspextra virgin olive oil
2clovesgarlicchopped
1tspfresh thyme leaves {or dried}
100gbutton mushroomssliced
1/2red bell pepperfinely chopped
1tspworcestershire sauce
2sprigs of fresh thyme {plus extra for garnish}
1/2cupBig Banyan Wines Sauvignon Blanc
250gsmoked Gouda cheese
100gmozzarella
Salt & freshly ground pepper to taste
Crusty bread
Instructions
Preheat the oven, top element only to 180C.
In a heavy bottomed pan, melt the clarified butter with olive oil. Add the chopped garlic and thyme. Saute until fragrant. Add the mushrooms and finely chopped bell peppers. Saute until the mushrooms are brown and add a splash of Worcestershire sauce.
Add the wine and sprigs of fresh thyme. Increase the heat and allow the wine to reduce by half. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Now add the grated cheese and stir to allow it to melt slightly, allowing the wine and cheese to somewhat combine.
Once done, transfer into a cast iron pan and place in oven. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the cheese has melted and is nice and bubbly.
Gently remove from oven, and serve immediately with crusty bread and Sauvignon Blanc from Big Banyan Wines.
“Food for the body is not enough. There must be food for the soul.”
Dorothy Day
Chicken Jalfrezi is a fiery as you like it, and a very popular stir fry curry in the UK, a recipe thought to have originated during the British Raj to use up left over meats. As time went by, there was a shift from mild curries to spicy hot ones on the continent, and the jalfrezi gained popularity. We visited the UK often in the late 1990’s. Next to the chicken tikka masala, this Indo Chinese dish was possibly the most popular.
You can basically ‘build it as you like’, throwing in left over meats to stir fry or do it from scratch. Either which ways, it’s a really quick stir fry to get going, one that comes together in under 30 minutes. Having the meat/chicken marinated ahead is great if you have time. Marinate with a little ginger-garlic paste, maybe a dash of lime juice and salt. As with any good dish, use good quality ingredients and you know you have a winner.
My version of Chicken Jalfrezi has a slight southern or rather coastal touch with some coconut milk added to offset the fiery hot chilies. Like any good curry, this one too is entirely customisable to taste. I used star anise in the first tempering, a spice I have increasingly grown to love while shooting spices for the Masala Dabba. Post the trip it into the heart of South India to Karaikudi, the love for simple spices like these just became stronger.
This Chicken Jalfrezi made essentially with peppers, green chilies, onions and tomatoes gets a delicious twist of taste with coconut milk. If you like a thick hearty curry which is a quick and easy stir fry, gives you a dose of vegetables, then look no further. This just might be what you were looking for!
Course Main Course
Cuisine Indian
Prep Time 5 minutesminutes
Cook Time 25 minutesminutes
Total Time 30 minutesminutes
Servings 4people
Ingredients
400gthigh boneless
2tspghee
2gundu chilies
2star anise
Salt to taste
Freshly ground black pepper
1tbspDabur ginger garlic paste
1oniondiced into 1" pieces
1/2red bell pepper1/2 yellow bell pepper, diced into 1" pieces
1capsicumdiced into 1" pieces
200mlDabur tomato puree
100mlDabur coconut milk
50mlGreek yogurt
1/2cupfresh corianderfinely chopped
2-3green chilies {optional}
2-3green chilies {optional}
Instructions
Heat clarified butter/ghee in a heavy bottom large pan/wok.
Add the red chilies and star anise and sauté briefly until fragrant.
Add chicken pieces in one flat lot, taking care not to overcrowd the pan. Season with salt and pepper. Sauté until golden brown over high heat, turn and repeat.
Remove chicken pieces from pan, and keep warm in a covered bowl.
Add a teaspoon of clarified butter if required. Add the diced onions and ginger garlic paste. Sauté until fragrant.
Add turmeric powder/haldi, coriander powder/dhania and red chili powder if desired. Sauté for 30 seconds.
Now add the bell peppers and capsicum. Sauté again for 3-4 minutes, then add the reserved chicken. Mix briefly, then add the tomato puree and coconut milk.
Stir and simmer for 15 minutes until the chicken is cooked. Taste and adjust seasoning. Add the green chilies and fresh coriander, then simmer further for 5 minutes Serve hot with rice or naan.
“A land of promise, a land of memory, a land of promise flowing with the milk and honey of delicious memories!”
Alfred Tennyson
Rich Spiced Hot Chocolate might well be the simplest thing to enjoy this season. It’s simple things that matter, and with recipes like these, ingredients are of prime importance. You can’t go wrong if you use good quality ingredients. This Rich Spiced Hot Chocolate is just that. Indulgent too. Made with Premium Milk from Mother Dairy, single origin couverture chocolate, dark cocoa, vanilla beans and spices from South India, it’s hard to go wrong. The milk was the biggest surprise though!It’s the best milk I’ve ever had! Words of praise from a dairy lover at home, one who lives to enjoy a chilled good glass of milk. The genes are the same. I love everything dairy too, but I am always surprised by how advanced his taste-buds are. One sip of the newly introduced Premium Full Cream milk from Mother dairy swiftly knocked his current favourite from another brand right off. It’s so good that I don’t even need flavouring mama he exclaimed!This new variant from Mother dairy which has the highest FAT content of 7% along with 9% SNF is ideal for those looking for a rich milk diet and also for folk like us who enjoy making home-made sweets, ghee and curd. It offers 15% extra malai {cream} in comparison to full cream milk. For someone like me who makes clarified butter / ghee at home every weekend, this new variant is ideal. I increasingly use clarified butter or ghee in baking now, and as my preferred medium of fat in cooking now that winter is here. The greens use mustard oil, and almost everything else goes the ghee way! Tadka is always ghee, the ‘icing on the cake’!Think little ghee cakes, think shortbread with ghee, think stuffed radish and cauliflower parathas, and think dollops of melting homemade sweet butter on hot sarson ka saag! After all in India, Ghee is equivalent to love. Finger licking good stuff this! There is just so much you can do with this indulgent product. I can only imagine setting Greek yogurt at home now. Also simmering a rice pudding into creamy goodness, maybe a tapioca pudding or a chocolate oat pudding too.
With a traditional Indian households still enjoying the top of milk cream for so many reasons, the malai that the premium milk yields is impressive. Just 2 litres boiled, cooled and chilled overnight offered almost a cup of malai. This Dark Chocolate & Walnut Wholewheat Cakeisa nostalgic favourite with ‘top of the milk cream’ or ‘malai’. It brings back memories of the quintessential ‘malai’ or ‘top of the milk cream’ cakes from yesteryear. Decades ago, every Indian household use to boil milk, collect the top of the milk cream, use some as is and make sweet butter of the rest. The more adventurous ones used to bake a delicious homey comforting cake with ‘malai’.Then the mind wanders into more delicious spaces like a lighter panna cotta, maybe a Vietnamese coffee. The possibilities are endless as I grabbed the few remaining pouches from the kid who is happy to guzzle down his new favourite. To prove my point to him that the milk makes things oodles better, I quickly stirred him a Rich Spiced Hot Chocolate. With winter around the corner, this drink is a winner, a simple winner! It’s a great hit with kids and adults alike. In summer I’d do a chilled version in bottles which is equal fun and very addictive!Then to dive into the past, how can I not make my husbands childhood favourite, a Masala Kadhai Doodh. This is where dessert meets milk, a quintessential Indian favourite, a concoction you would find across North India. It’s simple, it’s bursting with goodness and flavour AND a big hit always. It’s quite similar to a thandai, infinitely customisable.Masala Kadhai Doodh is simply simmered with a powdered nut & spice mix in a large kadhai or wok for the flavours to steep and milk to thicken. Only with this high fat content milk, the time to thicken is substantially decreased. I used a mix of almonds, melon seeds, cardamom, nutmeg, a pinch of turmeric and saffron.We are a dairy loving home, and I set yougurt at home everyday. With quite a welcome high fat content, Mother Dairy’s Premium Milk yields far tastier home made yogurt, paneer, quark etc. It is also far easier to use in puddings, traditional kheers, halwas. With winter here a gajar ka halwa is calling my name. Simmered in this beautifully thick milk, I can only imagine how good the end result will be. What would be your favorite way to use this?
Good quality ingredients and a simple simmering results in this indulgent Spiced Rich Hot Chocolate. Use a full fat milk like Mother Dairy Premium Milk for best results.
Course Breakfast, Drinks, Side Dish
Cuisine American
Prep Time 5 minutesminutes
Cook Time 30 minutesminutes
Total Time 35 minutesminutes
Servings 2
Ingredients
500mlMother Dairy Premium Milk
2-3star anise
1stick cinnamon
1/2vanilla beansplit
2tspbrown sugar
75gdark couverture chocolatechop
25ggood quality cocoa powder
Instructions
Place milk, star anise, cinnamon, vanilla bean and sugar in a heavy bottom pan and simmer for 15-20 minutes for flavours to steep.
Add the chocolate and cocoa powder, stir often to mix, and simmer gently until the chocolate melts.
Sieve and serve immediately, else steep for an hour, then reheat and sieve before serving.
Notes
Note: You can add a shot of Baileys irish Cream for an adult version. You can also add or remove spices as required. This also makes a nice chilled spiced chocolate milk. Stir well or sieve before serving.
‘Hard & dry, a chickpea is inedible. Hard & dry, a heart is unlovable. Presoak it in dance, music & art.’
Khang Kijarro Nguyen
CholeMasala / Curried Spicy Chickpeas the way my Mum makes them. Try as I might, my cholemasalaflavours are always different, the taste not quite not same. Must be a thing of the hand, the way she cooks them, but it’s a simple dish which makes me hungry for more. So now I let her make them for me which she gladly does. Chole Masala / Curried Spicy Chickpeas is a quintessential recipe from the Indian sub continent, one of the most popular perhaps. Every house has it’s own recipe, and you can keep them as spicy or light as you like. The Chole Masala / Curried Spicy Chickpeas are a meal in themselves, a treat for someone like me who would rather just enjoy them like a one bowl meal. Sliced onions to top them, finely sliced green chilies, a squeeze of lime juice, sometimes some crispies sneaked in! You get the drift!!
My mother often calls me in a hurry to pick them up as she makes them, wanting us to enjoy them warm. Often as things go, I am out or in the middle of something. The good thing about her cholas are that she makes them in large quantities, and they taste even better after an overnight rest. All you need to do is reheat them and dig in! That’s just where this the latest addition to my kitchen is quite handy.The Milton MicroWoW Casserole is microwaveable {dishwasher proof too} with stainless steel inside which makes it absolutely unique. It allows you to microwave your food and also retain heat of the food in the same casserole for 4 hours. Such an innovative concept; one we loved the minute we heard of it.
Like me, if you set curd/yogurt at home everyday, this casserole doubles up as a curd maker. With winter around the corner, when I am constantly looking for warm spots for the curd to set, I think my search ends here! Until then, this is a great way to store ice cream for a short while. Seems to pack quite a punch, quite like the Chole Masala / Curried Spicy Chickpeas !My mum’s recipe is simple, and a little different from how I cook them. Most of her recipes, like this one, are based on andaaz, or eyeballing of ingredients. A little of this, a pinch of that, toss something in. Oh did I forget that? Never mind, maybe next time. I’m sure it’ll taste fine, a little different perhaps. As all mothers cook, recipes are generally ‘taste as you go‘, and that’s the best way to cook really!
Chole Masala / Curried Spicy Chickpeas is a quintessential recipe from the Indian sub continent, one of the most popular perhaps. Every house has it's own recipe, and you can keep them as spicy or light as you like. This is my mums. Most of her recipes, like this one, are based on andaaz, or eyeballing of ingredients. A little of this, a pinch of that, toss something in.
Drain the overnight soaked chickpeas, wash well, and place in pressure cooker with enough water to cover them, about an inch over.
Cook under pressure on simmer for a 45 minutes to an hour until soft and almost double in size.
Meanwhile, add 1 tbsp mustard oil to a heavy bottom wok/kadhai.
Add the sliced onions and fry until golden brown. Make sure they don't get dark brown or the flavour gets bitter.
Add the ginger, green chilies or red chili powder if using, or both, chana masala and tomatoes.
Saute over low heat until the tomatoes are mushy soft and leave oil.
Add the cooked soft chickpeas and toss well to mix in masala, reserving the liquid for later. Add as much of the liquid as you like, stir well, adjust seasoning, turn the whole prep back into the cooker and give the chickpeas one more pressure. This will allow the spices/masalas to be absorbed by the chickpeas.
Serve with naaan or rice. Or like me, serve in a bowl with a squeeze of lime juice, sliced onions, ginger, fresh coriander and some sneaked in crispies!
“While there is tea, there is hope.”
Arthur Wing Pinero
Tea Rose Chocolate Truffles, simple chocolate goodness with a few of my favourite things. Chocolate, single cream and Mountain Rose Tea from Teabox. The tea is a fragrant blend of jasmine-infused winter flush black tea with rose and cardamom, and you can well imagine the lilting flavours it added to the truffles. Just right for the festive season. It’s also an extremely pretty tea. Take a look!Teabox is a brand I greatly admire, a brand I have been associated it since it was rebranded by Pentagram in 2015. Teabox, Kaushal Dugar’s brainchild for online tea retailing, aims to revolutionise the tea industry by selling products directly, days after it has been picked. It’s a model that works and works well, growing from strength to strength!Teabox is an experience, a tea experience which is crisp, simple, neat, offers great quality and above all, warmth. I’ve been styling the tea shoots for Teabox the past few years, and loved the very first lot I styled. In particular this banner below shot by the very talented photographer Mallikarjun Katakolin Bangalore is one of my favourites, a reflection of all things I love. The last lot I styled was for the Diwali shoot, and those are now up on Teabox. Here’s a few of those…With so much tea styling of late, it was but natural I develop an affinity to these leaves the world loves so much, even though I’m a ‘coffee person‘. I might not sip a cup of hot tea everyday, yet I’m happy to dive into iced tea, and of course play with the leaves!!Also happy to do recipes using tea leaves/blends which is something I increasingly enjoy. You might remember a batch of Mountain Rose Tea Cookies {below} that I baked a short while ago. I had such fun doing these cookies and shooting the images, the latter which is now quite addictive, that there’s been no looking back. From tea leaves are boring, to tea leaves are so happening, my world has come a long way. Teabox is leading in many ways, the latest it’s innovative concept called Teapac.TeaPacs are the first individually packaged tea bags sealed at the source using a natural Nitrogen flush that keeps the tea as fresh as the day it was picked. With them doing all the hard work, it leaves me a lot of time to get creative.Making chocolate truffles is probably the easiest thing ever. No rocket science here. Needless to say, make sure you use the best quality ingredients. The flavours really shine through, teasing the palette gently, making these the most delectable little bites ever. It’s great to involve kids in making these. Then sit back and see them disappear!Just right for the festive season, Tea Rose Chocolate Truffles are as simple as can be. They are also one of the best and most loved gifts ever. Vegetarian, eggless, gluten free, healthy, make ahead too, and indulgent in a guilt free way, can things get better? You could make these vegan using almond milk or coconut cream/milk. Feel free to experiment.As usual, I had a great time styling and shooting these. Served two ways, with a cup of brewed hot tea after dinner, or chilled Mountain Rose Iced Tea, my way, these make for great eye candy. They’ll be a great addition to your festive platter.Else make a batch, buy some tea and gift them to make someone happy something to remember! My next batch of truffles is going to be using the Kashmiri Kahwa Chaifrom Teabox. A blend of smoked green tea, spices and saffron from the valley, that tea has me smitten! Tempted to join in?
Tea Rose Chocolate Truffles, simple chocolate goodness with a few of my favourite things. Chocolate, single cream and Mountain Rose Tea from Teabox, so you can well imagine the lilting flavours it added to the truffles. Just right for the festive season and the recipe as simple as can be. Vegetarian, eggless, glutenfree, healthy, make ahead too, get indulgent in a guilt free way! You can make these vegan using almond milk or coconut cream/milk. Feel free to experiment.
Course Dessert
Cuisine French
Prep Time 5 minutesminutes
Cook Time 10 minutesminutes
Total Time 2 hourshours15 minutesminutes
Servings 16truffles
Ingredients
Truffles
250g52% dark couverture chocolateroom temperature
100gsingle/low fat creamroom temperature
2tbspor 2 teabags Teabox Mountain Rose Tea
Topping
20ggood quality cocoa powder to toss the truffles in
Instructions
Place the cream and tea leaves or teabags in a heavy bottom saucepan and simmer for 5 minutes.
In the meantime, finely chop the chocolate, or run it in the processor until almost ground. {I ran it in the Thermomix for 20 seconds, Speed 10}
Place in a large bowl.
If using tea leaves, strain the simmering cream over the ground chocolate. If using teabags, gently squeeze the teabags, and dispose, then pour the hot cream over the chocolate.
Whisk with a spatula or balloon whisk continuously until the chocolate melts and is smooth.
Cover the bowl with cling-wrap, and chill for 2-3 hours or until firm to touch.
Using a cookie scoop or round measuring spoon, portion out approx 16 bits. With very clean hands, roll into balls, then toss in the cocoa powder. You could toss a few in tea leaves as well, pressing gently to fix for a je ne sais quoi feel!
