Truly Scrumptious

The name of the post is after one of the characters from 'Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang!' and also perfectly describes this dessert.

I have this problem whipping cream. I mean, I blame the cream I use, but I don't think many other people have the same problem. I've tried everything, but the Amul carton cream just does not whip. It took years for me to actually give up, but now I really have. I settled for non-dairy frozen cream as an alternative. Worked perfectly, but didn't taste as nice.

Then, one fine day tried out another company of fresh cream and it whipped! Unfortunately, the times I actually needed the cream, I could never find it. So now, whenever I do see, I just buy and then think of what to make with it later

Anyway, back to this truly scrumptious dessert. I was generally blog hopping and stumbled across this blog- The Pioneer Woman. Really wonderful site. She lives on a farm with 4 kids and a basset hound and cooks great food and writes well too. This recipe is just soooo easy. Didn't realise mousse could be this simple to make.

I adapted it a bit. This is my version. Click here for her version.

Take 1 & 1/2 C of dark chocolate chips and 1/2 C of caramel chocolate chips. Put in blender. Squeeze out one orange into the blender and whiz away. I don't want to sound like Nigella Lawson, but the sound of those crumbling chocolate chips along with the citrus was quite exciting.

Then add 3 large eggs, a tiny pinch of salt into the blender & whiz some more. Then add 1 cup of very very hot coffee (I used 2 Tbsp of decaf coffee and 1 tsp of sugar- add more sugar if you're one of those people who likes things sickeningly sweet) Slowly pour in with the rest of the mixture. The hot coffee will partially cook the eggs. Blend for another 30 seconds. This gets all the air into the mousse.

Then pour into cups/jars/glasses. The jars she uses are pretty cool. I only had these fluted glasses. I'm sure it would have tasted better in her jars. Oh well. Pour, so that there is enough space for whipped cream on the top. Refrigerate until set. It took about 2 hours. Whip up the cream with a bit of powdered sugar. I also added some orange essence in mine. Dollop into the glasses. Dust some cocoa powder and sprinkle with orange rind and now say 'Hello' to Truly Scrumptious.

Mmmm. 

I shall make this again at Christmas. Somehow the combination of orange, chocolate and coffee seem like a christmassy thing.

Asparagus Souffle

I've been spending a LOT of time in the kitchen. Brownie Points has had a very busy last few weeks with Soul Sante, a feature in the Deccan Herald- read here and plenty of Diwali orders. Apart from that, my parents were out of town for a few weeks, so I did plenty of cooking. But, it's not much fun when I have to cook as appose to when I just cook for fun.

Anyway, there was a bunch of asparagus in the fridge and felt like trying something different for dinner. 

This was the first recipe I found on the net when I searched for 'Asparagus Souffle' Brilliant pictures and pretty straightforward recipe.

Read HERE.

Few pointers:
1. Make sure the asparagus is nice and tender. Break off hard stems.
2. The becahmel sauce is supposed to be super thick. Looked liked mashed potatoes to me.
3. Carefully fold in the egg whites. If you over mix, it won't rise well in the oven.
4. If your oven is like mine, you'll need more than 20 minutes in the oven. I didn't even have to turn the heat down. But. don't leave it in there too long. It'll dry out.

Note: In the pictures, it's fallen a bit because I didn't take the pictures as soon as it was out of the oven. Once I started eating, I realised that I should blog about it beacuse it tasted SO yum!

A little bit of Zaha!

One of my classmates in college nicknamed me 'Zaha' from my fondness of angles and assymetry and oddities, synonymous with the famed architect, Zaha Hadid. My designs are quite far from her work, and thankfully that name never stuck!

No doubt, she's pretty awesome. The only female holder of the prestigious Pritsker award with projects dotted all over the world and has lectured in some of the biggest architectural institutions.

I was lucky enough to be in London during the two week London Festival of Architecture 2012. As part of the festival, was the opening of the Zaha Hadid Exhibition. It was definitely something I looked forward to, but unfortunately forgot to carry my camera and had to rely on my phone.

The exhibition was the basement and ground floor of a building with her studios on the floors above. If only she wasn't on one of her world travel, I could have met the woman herself. sigh. 

There were about 8 or 10 sculptures on display. Most of them were her furniture or landscape design. You can see them here. I particularly liked her Floating staircase design and the Aqua Table. Such smooth lines and seamless surfaces make up her wacky designs.

Dining at Mynt

Bangalore is host to many food events. One such one is the Citybank Restaurant week. 10+ different restaurants come up with a fixed menu at a great deal for Citybank users. 

Being a part of the 'Bangalore Foodies' group on Facebook, my Mum and I were able to go to one of these restaurants for an even better deal. The menus went up and the just as quickly, the best ones got booked. We were able to choose to dine at Mynt, at the Taj Westend while other foodies ate at the others on the same night.

We were seated at a lovely table on the porch. Even though the other foodies who also chose this restaurant decided to eat by themselves, we got to spend a lovely dinner together.

The chef, Bharat Kapoor took us through each course. The amuse bouche was a refreshing combination of feta, watermelon, tepenade and caramalised tomatoes. Just the right balance of sweet and salty.

Opera, Food Fairs and Chainsaw Jugglers

Of all the areas in London, Covent Garden has got to be my favourite. The life and culture cannot compare to any other part. If at all, I had nothing else to do, I'd spend the whole day in Covent Garden.

The piazza and French style housing was designed by Inigo Jones in the mid 17th century and the landmark neoclassical market building in the centre of the piazza by Charles Fowler 200 years later. The area speaks of centuries of history but has always been synonymous with entertainment. 

Cobblestone streets flanked with tiny boutiques and quaint cafes spilling out onto pavements leading up to the piazza bursting with activity- from street dancers, magicians, acrobats, opera singers, orchestras, and more. People crowding around, sitting on pavements and eating hot jacket potatoes, more little boutiques with tiny doorways and spiral staircases, many more cafe's with live cooking and tables with white umbrellas dotted around the plaza. Souvenir markets with London city, Queen's Jubilee and Olympic paraphernalia and tourists and locals trying to breathe in as much as possible.

Ode to Pillow fights

This is where I am now--- working at job applications and reminiscing about college days. Slightly depressing and slightly exciting to summarise the emotions. More on the depressing side, though. 

I'm also enjoying this state of unemployment. It means- more cooking, more writing, more wandering and more music.

Been listening to a lot of Indie Folk this week. Here's my new band discovery- Paper kites. 

Last Saturday night I was part of a pillow fight. Girls against boys- 4 kids below 12 and 3 adults. Crazy fun! Ah, the days of dressing up, walks in the woods and pillow fights!

Wimbledon!

June 26- WIMBLEDON

One of things that got me most excited about visiting London in the summer was that my trip was coinciding with Wimbledon 2012.

I did my usual research about tickets, etc. The starting cost of the men's final was 2000 pounds that went up by 20% a day in the final week of Wimbledon! (I think they went up to about 12,000 pounds!!!!!!)

I guess the best way to experience Wimbledon and getting cheaper tickets was by waiting in queues and getting tickets on the day.

Schedule of play comes out the day before and unfortunately, we missed having a chance to see Federer because we decided to go on day 2.

Excess Baggage! Excess Flirting!

"The scientific theory I like best is that the rings of Saturn are composed entirely of lost airline luggage."
~Mark Russell

Ayubowan! (the only Sinhalese I picked up was on the plane)

In celebration of completing 5 long years of Architecture, I left Bangalore for my long long vacation! 

Home - Colombo - London - ( Watford - London ) x 15 - Colombo - Passikudah - Baticaloa - Colombo - Galle - Colombo - Home

I did much more than was on my list in 54 days (and my lists are pretty long), ticked off many things off my bucket list (many of which were added to my bucket list just before I did them. :P), ate as much food as I wanted to (put back all the weight I lost with Typhoid), filled up my suitcase with more souvenirs than I needed, and came back with 3000+ pictures as memories of my trip.

Work, Graduation and Typhoid

Hello faithful blog readers,


My sincere apologies for making false promises for cooking posts every Sunday (I only managed 4 in 4 months) and book reviews and other 'interesting articles' that were in my head and never got typed out.


Oh well, here is an update of the last 4 months.


1. Work- My 4 month internship was an amazing experience. I got to work on some very cool projects, enjoyed the office, met great people, made great friends, and learnt a whole lot more than I did in the 4 and a half years of college.

Sari day at the office- Posing on the terrace!

Sundays in the Kitchen #4

Sigh.


I am starting this post with a long sigh. A sigh for the many Sunday's out of the kitchen. A sigh for the love and attention that my blog needs.

Sundays in the Kitchen #3

I really need to try harder at keeping this up. This post is for Feb 19.


The last Sunday, I planned a huge Spanish meal for the family. I was all prepared only to find out that the parents had other dinner plans. So, this is postponed for another Sunday. And the coming Sunday is a Brownie Points sale at Soul Sante. There'll be lots of baking in the kitchen, but wont be posting anything here. 


Panna Cotta


I ate this heavenly dessert about 10 years ago in the Piazza Navona. One of the few times where I didn't regret not ordering something chocolate. It was so grand that I ordered a second one.


The only other place which came close to matching that one was a restaurant called Giancarlos (where Fireflies is now). Perfect panna cotta and perfect berry coulis too.


I tried making it once before. I made a grand passion fruit coulis, but the gelatin was really rubbish and it didn't set properly, so we had to eat it like pudding. Still tasted good though.


Thanks to my lovely Aunt, I acquired some great gelatin leaves, and quite proud to say that it worked perfectly!


Thank you James Martin for the super rich and super easy recipe with a stunning photograph next to it for motivation.

Sundays in the Kitchen #2

"Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both together go to the making of genius. Love, love, love, that is the soul of genius." - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart


Happy Valentines Day. Here's a nice soppy song I was listening to today.

So, back to the kitchen. I actually did bake this on Sunday, it just took a while to post it. 


Another birthday calls for another cake. This is a recipe that I've loved making not because of the taste but more because of how it looks. Even if the top is uneven or if it cracks or looks ugly, you just flip the cake and it's beautiful. Very deceptive, since it is actually a really simple recipe.

Sundays in the Kitchen #1

Sunday lunch at home is my department. But usually I end up making my ten minute rice and dhal and vegetable fry. Nothing too exciting. I overcame my urge to be lazy this Sunday and decided to cook something different for lunch.


The menu:
Cashew nut and Mushroom Rice, Brinjal (Rat) Curry, Tomato Raita


Brinjal (Rat) curry:
For as long as I can remember, this curry with the whole mini brinjals has been called 'rat curry' at home. Despite the resemblance, it's still quite a gross name.


First wash and trim the tails of the brinjals. Cut into quarters but not all the way up the stem to keep them intact. Make a masala paste with dry mango powder, haldi, garam masala, salt and oil. Use a knife to spread the paste into the slits of the brinjal. Deep fry till the skin is slightly crispy and and the insides are cooked.


In a saucepan, add 1 tsp of grated ginger, 1 tsp of grated garlic to 4 tbsps of hot vegetable oil (if you have groundnut oil, it adds a nice nuttiness to the curry). Add 2 onions that are finely chopped. Mix well and cook till the onions have turned translucent. Add 4 tsps of andhra masala- this is a combination of chili powder, corriander powder, jeera powder, haldi, powdered cloves and probably other things too.  The one we have at home was given to us, so I can't even check any list of ingredients. But I'm sure you can experiment with the use of various powders. Just make sure none of them overpower the dish.

Once the masalas are nicely mixed up, add 5 finely chopped tomatoes. Reduce the flame, cover with a lid and leave to cook for about ten or fifteen minutes. Keep stirring to make sure the bottom doesn't burn. Once nicely cooked, add about 150 ml of coconut milk. If you don't have fresh coconut milk/cream, just mix about 4 tbsps of dried coconut powder with milk. Stir well and put over the fried brinjals. I didn't have any fresh corriander today, but it will make a nice garnish.


Cashew and Mushroom Rice:
In a saucepan, add half a chopped onion, 1 tsp of jeera seeds to 2 tbsp of oil and 1 tbsp of ghee. Then add 1 tsp of grated garlic, 1 tsp of salt, 1/2 tsp of pepper and a pinch of cinnamon. Once it is fried well, add a handful of cashew nuts and 1 cup of sliced mushrooms. Fry till mushrooms are cooked and cashew nuts and golden. Add 2 cups of rice and 4 cups of water. Bring to the boil, then lower heat, put the lid on and cook for ten minutes.

Tomato Raita:
Whisk up about 400g of set curd. Add 3 tsps of black salt, 1 tsp of corriander powder and a pinch of chili powder. Then add 3 finely chopped up tomatoes and half a green chili.

And that was my lunch today. Was quite nice. :)

I really need more practice with food presentation and photography. The thing is I'm far too impatient because the food becomes cold. There's always next Sunday for more practice.

Results, Buses and Weddings

Hello 2012.


This is a post about my plans to revive my blog. I've had a pretty eventful first month of the year which is my excuse for not posting on my blog. This is the summary:


1. The dreaded thesis. I spent New Year's eve home alone listening to firecrackers (not even watching, just listening) while I continued working. The stress and lack of sleep and sanity ended a few days later and I got to catch up on sleep, movies and everything else. The results came out and the pretty decent grades finally marks the end of that madness. 


2. The job hunting. This was quite a painful process that began 3 months ago. I sent out a gazillion applications and checked my mail for replies every 6 seconds (I'm not exaggerating). After a lot of depressing phone calls and lack of positive responses, I had to settle for the 5th (yes, there were 4 other cities I applied to) option- Bangalore. I took 2 months to convince myself that I would still be happy, and then a week before I had to join, I sadly had to reject the offer. Anyway, I got another job and surprisingly I've really enjoyed the first 2 weeks of work, despite this job being a backup of my 4th backup option. 


3. I've been lazy. Had lots of ideas of things to post about, but just too lazy to write about it. I did a little cooking, but was lazy to take pictures.