My little chocolate making class on TV!!

Culinary Escapades is my little chocolate making class….. i had blogged about it a few months ago when I decided to relaunch it in July this year….every week i teach people to make hand made, hand moulded chocolates of different kinds, shapes, flavours and fillings…..its an extension of my corporate training repertoire and brings my love for all things food, a little closer to my life…..its been great so far, I get calls for enquiry and people register and learn how to make the chocolates, the joy and happiness when they unmould and pack the chocolate they make is so great, more satisfying than any end of training feedback!!

A few days ago, a reporter from the local Telugu channel TV9 called me and asked for the details and asked if they could cover it…I dismissed it as a prank call….imagine my surprise when they called again on Saturday morning….15 minutes before my class was scheduled to begin, to ask for directions to my place!! To cut a long story short, the team arrived to film us at work as part of a small capsule for their entertainment and local events roundup, I had informed the participants of this, I need not have been skeptical of their response, because they were thrilled and put up quite a show…..

Instead of doing the 2 minute capsule as planned, they decided to film the entire class and later did an interview with me. They also asked me to demonstrate two varieties of chocolates for the viewers…… I had to control my grin cos for me it was actually reliving my childhood playing “kitchen kitchen” where I would speak in hindi acting like I was demonstrating a cookery program a la sanjeev kapoor…..they have told me that they’d call and inform us before the telecast…..

More on this is here……

 

 

Killing me softly……

K is really upset with me….he claims I have been feeding him to death!! And he’s serious when he says it…..with a writer in the house who’s lost in the characters of his book, his plot and philosophy…..the last thing on his mind is an answer to “what do you want to eat?” …sometimes I think he wants to hit me with the nearest object for asking him such a question and yet I persist with amazing doggedness…….after the last couple of stares I have got from him, I am now turning to amma to answer this question for me….she answers with (hasn’t yet been tortured by this question) enthusiasm and actually asks me to make some innovative stuff for her…..one such request a few days ago was “idiappam and stew” (ishtu…if any self respecting mallu will be quoted here…..but mallu I am not tho sometimes I pretend to be….) …..

this is something I was introduced to at my dear friend D’s house in cochin…..i was already in awe of many things in Kerala…the people, their lifestyles, the urban and rural merging….the terrain and the cuisine…..delicately flavoured on one hand and fiery at another…..so idiappam and stew remains one of my favourites….its so easy to put together and always is well appreciated (yes even K loves it)…..and also is light on the tummy……. We had this for dinner the other night….i made lots of it and we had quite a bit leftover…..idiappam with milk / coconut milk flavoured with elaichi and sugar makes a great breakfast too…..imagine my panic when I found the whole hot case empty the next morning when I checked it!! K was up writing all night and gave in to hunger pangs at 4 a.m!! So much for being accused of feeding him to death!! i guess i stand “guilty as charged!!”………..

Disclaimer: My mallu friends, please excuse me if the recipe I followed is far from authentic!!

Baking Escapade # 8: Whole wheat Spiced Apple Muffins

The shocked……….. “OMG!! Don’t tell me YOU!! (rolls eyes unbelievably, shakes head vigorously and continues) made this” expressions I have been getting from people I have been subjecting my baking to is too addictive to let up…..To keep the oven fires warm and going and also make sure all the baking (bragging…what’s the difference??) I have been doing isn’t just a flash in the (baking) pan, I have tentatively resolved to bake more often…like once a week……I don’t treat resolutions with the respect that they deserve…but hey this is food!! And some of it has got to be sugared….so I’m guessing I’ll have a lot more success than just normal resolutions

This picture to the left (which goes to the Show me your cookbook event hosted by Nags) is of this really fabulous book on baking i picked up a few months ago….flushed with my first real baking success….and predictably it sat on my bookshelf…..these days I prefer the world wide web for recipes….something to do with real pictures and tried and tested…anyways…this book has some really simple baking recipes, 50 in all and have a good variety of cakes, cookies, muffins and bread…..there’s a wonderful options for both savory and sweet selections…..its called Essential Cooking Series Comprehensive step by step cooking - Baking ….. published by Hinkler books pvt ltd. … each time I have tried my hand at baking the last few weeks, I have gone back and forth to this book and put it safely back on its shelf… So this week is Whole wheat Spiced Apple Muffins …….this recipe is fairly simple….calls for very few ingredients all of which are most likely available in the kitchen and the apples I reckon can be substituted with any other firm flesh fruit such as pears / pineapple etc

the recipe said 1 cup flour yields 9-10 muffins which wouldn’t be enough even for tasters here in my family and so I doubled all measures, landing up with 30 muffins….I guess I have the wrong cup!! Or the wrong muffin case!! The recipe is a keeper….the fact that the muffins were soft and moist not to mention fruity with the pieces of apple and made entirely out of whole wheat has totally swung it in its favor!!

Recycle Rani’s heir apparent and WBB#15 : Starring Pesarattu and Coconut Chutney

As children, my brother and I had nicknamed amma “recycle rani” ……….of course we didn’t appreciate the fact that she became a staunch practitioner of recycling everything much before it became fashionable and environmentally necessary….all this owing to the fact that she grew up at a time when everything from clothes to food wasn’t in such abundant supply and it was a government controlled market and hardly the consumerist society that it is today….she’d save mithai boxes to pack food for when we traveled by train…each one had their own meal packed in a box, complete with a paper napkin and cut fruit…….packing paper to reuse either for gift-wrapping or to line cupboard shelves, scraps of fabric for making baby clothes, market bags and other stuff, infact I still have a cover for the mixer –grinder made from such scraps of fabric…..and food…..she put the refrigerator to good use since she was a working woman, with portioned precooked food, boiled dal, gravies etc would be stocked in the freezer, and food was never thrown away if she could help it……if there was vegetable upma for breakfast, I could be pretty sure it was leftovers from the previous night’s dinner…..excess food cooked for festivals or other occasions would be frozen, given a makeover and one wouldn’t be the wiser as to its origins!!

So imagine my happiness when I realized that I hadn’t yet missed the deadline for Nandita’s event?? It’s a cause after my own heart and being the true claimant of my mother’s title, I couldn’t let this one pass up!! So here is a makeover that started off with 3 day old idly batter, quantity that’s not enough for a meal and yet too much to allow your conscience to throw it down the drain….and some Kobbari kaaram podi that wasn’t enough to go around…….they ended up as pesarattu and spicy chutney……my entry for WBB#15 the brainchild of Nandita

Baking Escapade # 7 - Bunning around…..(Savoury Whole Wheat Buns)

The monsoons have begun to retreat…which means mostly rains in the evenings in September for Hyderabad……I love the rains and it makes me all mushy and romantic and ready to try a few new things for dinner…..something steaming hot to warm you up and suddenly a very simple dinner gives you a “domestic goddess” avatar….with the traffic in hyderabad enough to send you to an asylum for attempting to drive in it…..K generally comes home and we sit down in thanksgiving for the sanity that life gives us and thankful for the warm comforting food, the warm, dry home and the love of family and friends…….see I told you the rains make me mushy!!

Anyways, continuing my escapades with baking and fully inspired by this wonderful lady and these two people…what I set off to actually do, was check if the dried yeast that I had sitting in the freezer was alive (advice I got from bee…when I lamented on the bricks I baked on an earlier encounter, she asked me to make sure my yeast was alive)…so I mixed it into a cup of warm water…..it frothed gloriously all the way over the brim and suddenly I was all excited…..i thought I’d try my hand at baking some buns…..it was Sunday afternoon and both K and Amma were respectfully resting…..it was all that I needed to try something and have the allowance of destroying the evidence if I ended up with bricks again…….. this is adapted a bit from Anita’s recipe of whole wheat bread….basically cut the proportions to a minimum so I could get rid of the evidence with that much less guilt if it flopped badly …and made the whole thing out of whole wheat flour…….but I didn’t have to fret as it was quite a success….I mixed the dough…….waited for it to rise and I was so excited when it did!! The result was 8 buns about 4 inches in diameter….firm and crusty on the outside and soft on the inside…..i tried glazing it with just water and it resulted in a cracked surface, this needs to be avoided the next time….there were two buns left and the next morning I was pleasantly surprised that they were still soft………..we had them with steaming hot tomato soup for dinner……this is my entry for MBP – bread, hosted by Coffee of the Spice Cafe

Baking Escapade # 6 - Jugalbandi’s Almond Chocolate brownie

I’m usually one of those people who drools over recipes, thinks of throwing a party to sufficiently showcase the labour that goes into actually trying it and after a while, the memory of whether or not i actually tried out the recipe is a blur…… this time it was different…i logged in this morning and did the usual trawling….i checked out jai and bee’s as usual…..pondered over the almond chocolate brownie…..fantasised some about serving it at a party and the oohs and aahs that would hopefully follow…(consider the fact that baking is always a hit and miss for me…..more misses actually….), bookmarked the recipe….couldn’t get it out of my mind…..wrote it down in my diary…..shut the book but couldn’t get it out of my mind…..for the first time i rushed to the kitchen hours after reading a recipe and boy o boy!! the result is fabulous….even if i say so myself….thankfully i had everything on hand……..by the time the batter was ready the power was off so waited impatiently for a while and when the power came on again i popped it in to bake……the top was firm and the insides moist and perfectly gooey…..my mom had a piece and paid me the best compliment ever…she’s asked me to bake her one to take back with herwhen she’s ready to go back to bangalore……

i followed jai and bee’s recipe to the T, of all the brownies i have made (and there are 3 already posted on this blog) this one was the easiest and easily my best !! pardon the bragging…i just cant get over it!! i only couldnt slice the almonds so simply split them down the middle, and they browned a bit after baking….. after i post this, i am having myself another piece for dessert.

salad days

Lots has happened since my last post….the best part is that amma came back with me from Bangalore…I guess she couldn’t bear the cribbing I was doing and the superlative guilt tripping that she didn’t want to spend time with me post the appearance of her grand daughter (my brother and SIL’s baby girl)….its been a week now and she’s bringing to my life the sunny disposition that is such a threatened part of my life right now…..she for one hasn’t changed one bit….why is it that mother’s are compelled to bulldoze their daughter’s out of the kitchen?? Her most favourite phrase to me? “just go and sit down, I’ll finish here and clear up…go and relax” yeah right!! Relaxing seems to be most of what I am doing anyways!!

Through mutual agreement we’ve decided that I do breakfast and dinner and she’ll do lunch…at least that’s how its been mostly…..one good thing about eating with amma is that there’s salad at lunch and dinner….something that i skip feigning laziness or tiredness whichever suits me…and something she always insisted on…..post diabetes, in her own words she’s been “eating salad like a goat”……sometimes it is a little fancy with a simple dressing, at other times it is just some chopped / sliced raw veggies with a twist of lemon juice….. this is a very simple salad I made for dinner a few nights ago….am not very proud of the pictures taken from the phone, but something to show atleast….the picture obviously doesn’t do justice to the lovely crunchy texture of the apple and the flavours of the veggies with pepper and olive oil…. We had this with rotis and a simple cabbage sabzi.

Impromptu Vacay

like fire at our feet and the devil on our tails K and i decided to surprise everyone in bangalore by getting  there unannounced!! the expression on my mother’s face was worth all of it!! i believe the best things in life are unexpected and on friday, the whole family, Amma, brother, SIL, baby, K and i, loaded a few clothes and a tonne of baby paraphenelia into the car and drove off to pondicherry!! we had a swell time and got back last night….back to hyderabad with amma in tow this evening….i have a tonne of catching up to do…but have yet to recover from the great time we had…….first family vacation in 20 years!!

Nature ka nasha

The honey dew melon that sat in the fridge for a few days made its presence felt by flavouring everything from the milk (vessel covered with a lid) to the butter (closed butter case)…… while K mentioned that the tea tasted different, I racked my brains about what to do with it…..we had so much fruit stocked up that cutting the melon open wasn’t such a good idea. One because we couldn’t finish it in one go, two because the  cut fruit would rapidly lose its flavour and sweetness……we couldn’t take it out of the fridge cos it would just perish….talk about being caught between the devil and the deep blue sea….only this time it was the melon and the refrigerator……then I remembered that my favourite fix while at work at the fresh juice counter used to be “kharbuza shake”, creamy, frothy and totally yummy. Between trainings, while I took my breaks this was the only thing that I used to have time for and it was filling as well as nutritious…..most things that are healthy have a reputation of being tasteless, but not my tarbuza shake…it has a fantastic blend of texture, flavour and sweetness….with no added sugar (mostly)….its great as breakfast, with breakfast, or a snack supplement….so this is how the honey dew melon found nirvana…..4 glasses of fabulous shake….between K and i…..it was nature ka nasha all the way!! Cheers!!

this also is going off to Meeta for her  Monthly Mingle…this month is Liquid dreams

Always running late……with badam kulfi, lychee shrikhand and beet n banana cutlets

The past week has been a riot….between all the things that have been going on, I haven’t indulged in my favourite pastime blog hopping….nor have I had the time to post anything…..also feel horribly lousy when I miss all the foodie event…its like preparing for a test…you know the deadline and procrastinate and by the time you get your act together yoo hoo!! Date’s over!!

I was thrilled when I saw the microwave quick cooking event hosted by Srivalli ….about 12 years ago when i was still in college, my aunt got one for my mother after her trip abroad…..i remember the customs officers in hyderabad didnt know how much to charge us because they hadn’t seen too many of them….the MW took pride of place in the kitchen…all covered up with choicest linen…. yours truly tested the waters…literally the first thing I made in it was a cup of hot water and subsequently instant coffee, served it to amma and watched her closely as she sipped it….asking “how is it?? Is it nice?? Is it different?” I was like the specialist penalty shooter after that….only I was called upon to operate her Majesty……I graduated from heating stuff to making mostly non Indian food in the MW – Mac and Cheese, Veg au gratin, pizzas etc. it has been my most beloved of all appliances and I use it extensively. Not just to boil and steam and reheat, but to cook a complete meals and even do the tadka sometimes…..especially when the cooking gas runs out and when I had a two burner stove……its such a blessing and cuts cooking time unbelievably…..the adage “slaving over the stove” has taken on a new meaning now I guess…..Inspired by Lata’s theratti paal made in the microwave and Tee’s post on malai kulfi plus not to mention the many litres of milk lying frozen in the fridge, it came as manna to me……I sort of married both of them and made some badam elaichi kulfi……..this is my entry to the Microwave Easy Cooking event, the brainchild of the creative Srivalli. I’m also sending it off to Sugar High Friday # 34, the oldest virtual food event, the brainchild of the innovative Jennifer of Domestic goddess and this month hosted by the passionate cook. The theme is local and regional specialties.

i’ve also been eyeing the AFAM events that happen….i made an unusual (for me) Shrikhand that turned out super and i’m so thrilled to be able to send it to this event hosted by Sig this month, which is the brainchild of Maheshwari

 

Suganya not only suggested I post the other cutlet recipes I mentioned in the post on hara bhara kebabs (which I finished off in the “reply to comment” itself), she graciously gave awarded me with the Thoughtful Blogger Award……thank you Suganya….here is finally the beetroot cutlet recipe ….

 

its been raining blogger awards and I shall add my own two bits…… so on goes the thoughtful blogger award to these people here…..

 

Mathy, Indira and Jenn– for making such a difference to the food blogging world with your food blog resources

To Sig, Mishmash, Kanchana, Nupur and Shammi….. ladies you rock!!

leave you now with the recipes…have a lovely weekend…..