Kulfi

Summer is around and catching up pretty strong here in Bangalore. What best way to beat the heat than with cold kulfi that is delicious and refreshing. Here I present to you my variation of the kulfi.

Ingredients:

Kulfi -

Milk - 4 cups

Badam - 2 for garnishing

Sugar - 3 tbsp

Instant coffee - ¾ tsp

Coffee-Toffee Sauce -

Butter - 2 tbsp

Sugar - ½ cup

Fresh cream - ¼ cup

Salt - ⅛ tsp

Instant coffee - ½ tsp

Water - 3 tbsp

Method:

Boil milk in a thick bottom pan. On a medium flame cook the milk until it thickens (should take around 45 to 50 minutes). Keep stirring during the process. Once the milk is reduced to roughly ½ the quantity, add coffee, sugar and mix well. Switch off and let it cool. Once cooled pour it into a 4 inch square kulfi mould and put it in the freezer for about 6 to 8 hours.

For the coffee-toffee sauce, heat a thick bottom pan, melt the butter. Add sugar and mix thoroughly. To this add water and let the sugar melt (remember to lower the heat and don't let the sugar caramelize). Once the sugar has melted, add salt and stir in the cream and mix nicely with a balloon whisk. Now add the coffee and let it boil for about a minute. Switch off and cool down the sauce.

Cut thick slices of the kulfi and arrange them on a serving place, pour generous amount of the sauce. Sprinkle some shavings of badam. Enjoy delicious coffee infused kulfi with coffee-toffee sauce (Had a tough time plating, with the kulfi melting pretty fast in the heat).

Walnut Brownie

A pack of walnut has been lying around for couple of weeks now. Well, what better way to make use of it than bake brownies. Years back I had prepared the egg less version which was too good, so wasn't sure how this would turn out. Well, it turned out quite well and dense in the middle just the way I wanted it to be. I am sure you'll like it as well.

Ingredients:

Walnut - 150 gms

Eggs - 3, at room temperature

Sugar - 200 gms, powdered

Salt - ½ tsp

Baking powder - ½ tsp

Dark chocolate bar - 200 gms

All purpose flour (Maida) - ½ cup

Sunflower oil - ½ cup

Vanilla essence - 1 ¼ tsp

Cocoa powder - ¼ cup

Butter for greasing baking tray

Method:

Preheat oven to 180º C. Grease and line a 9 inch square cake tin with butter paper. In a baking tray, spread the walnuts and roast it in the preheated over for around 5 minutes. Once done, cool it and chop it to small pieces.

Melt dark chocolate in a bowl using double boiler and keep it aside. In a bowl, start beating the eggs one by one. To this, add sugar, oil, vanilla essence, salt. Beat till pale and creamy. Now add this mixture slowly into the melted chocolate, keep beating on a medium speed until thoroughly mixed.

Sift flour, cocoa powder and baking powder into the chocolate and egg mixture, fold it nice and slowly until its blended completely. Now fold in the walnuts and pour the mixture into the baking tin. Tap the baking tin on the counter top to remove any bubbles trapped in the mixture. Put it in the oven @ 180º C and bake for 35 minutes or until done.

Hope you enjoy the brownies. Please don't forget to leave your valuable comments.

Chocolate Muffin

Ingredients:
Plain flour - 200gms
Cocoa powder - 25 gms
Baking powder - 1 tbsp
Ground cinnamon - 1 tsp
Caster sugar - 115 gms
White Chocolate - 125 gms, broken into small pieces
Eggs - 2
Sunflower oil - 80 ml
Milk - 220 ml

Icing -
White chocolate - 100 gms
Water - 4 tbsp
Butter - 50 gms
Icing sugar - 350 gms

Method:

Preheat oven to 190º C. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with muffin paper cases. Sift the flour, cinnamon, baking powder and cocoa into a large mixing bowl. Add sugar and white chocolate to it and stir nicely.

Take the eggs and oil in a bowl and whist until frothy, then gradually whist in the milk. Slowly stir into the dry ingredients until just blended. Spoon the mixture into the paper cases until, filling ¾ full. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes or until well risen. Leave it to cool for 2 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the icing, break the white chocolate into a small heat proof bowl, add water, butter, and set the bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water until melted. Stir until smooth and leave to stand over the water. Now add the icing sugar and beat until smooth and thick.

Top the muffins with the icing.

Kaju Katli

Ingredients:
Water - 200 ml
Sugar - 400 gms
Cashew nuts - 400 gms
Pistachio - 50 gms, chopped

Method:

Coarsely grind the cashew nuts into bread crumb consistency.

Heat water and sugar in a sauce pan, bring to a boil and cook till sugar forms a 3 string consistency.

In another thick bottom vessel, mix together the sugar syrup and ground cashew. Cook on a low flame stirring continuously till the mixture is thick and glossy. Switch off the gas, and mix ¾ of the pistachios, let the mixture cool.

On a greased surface, slightly knead the cashew mixture to form a ball. With a rolling pin flatten like thick chapatti (½ cm thick). With a pastry cutter, cut into diamond shapes. To garnish, sprinkle the rest of the pistachios over the cut kaju katli. You could also use the silver warq on the kaju katli.

Chocolate Sponge Cake

What a nice way to kick off the new year with a delicious chocolate cake topped with two layers of icing.

Ingredients:

For the cake -

Refined flour (maida) - 2 cups

Baking powder - 2 tsp

Cocoa powder - ¼ cup

Milk - ½ cup

Butter (Unsalted) - 100 gms softened @ room temperature

Powdered Sugar - 1 ¼ cup

Vanilla essence - 1 tsp

Eggs - 3, seperate the egg white and yolk

Butter icing -

Butter - 45 gms softened @ room temperature

Icing sugar - 1 cup

Vanilla essence - ½ tsp

Royal icing -

Egg white - 1

Icing sugar - ¾ cup

Lemon juice - few drops

Method:

Take butter in a mixing bowl. With the help of a hand mixer (use egg beater attachment) start blending the powdered sugar into the butter on medium speed (put the powdered sugar slowly into the butter). Blend the sugar nicely into the butter to form a creamy texture. Now add the egg yolks one by one (keep mixing) into the mixture. Add vanilla essence and blend for another ½ a minute.

At this point you can pre-heat the oven to 180º C. Grease and line a 10-11 inch round cake tin with butter paper.

In another bowl sift the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder (I prefer to use Cadbury cocoa powder, the aroma is irresistable) and nicely mix them together.

Now add the dry flour mixture into the butter mixture slowly (keep blending on a low speed). Add milk. Once the flour is nicely blended into the butter mixture, keep it aside.

In a dry bowl, take the egg whites and beat it with the help of a beater (if you are using the same hand mixer, make sure you clean and dry the before using). You could use a whisk instead. Incorporate as much air as possible into the egg whites so that they form a foamy firm texture.

Add the foam into the wet cake mixture. The trick here is not to mix the egg white with the cake mixture quickly, but to fold the egg whites into the mixture in slow circular movements. Once all the egg blends into the cake mixture, pour it into the cake tin and bake for 40 mins @ 180º C.

When done take it out of the oven and let it cool. Once cooled, take it out of the tin and turn it upside down and apply a layer of butter icing. Once the icing is set, pour the royal icing mixture and spread it evenly with the help of a palette knife or a spatula.

For the butter icing - Take butter in a bowl, with the help of the hand mixer blend the icing sugar into the butter to form a creamy texture. Add vanilla essence and mix it nicely. Butter icing is ready.

For the royal icing - In a bowl, take the egg white and beat it so that it turns into firm foamy texture. Now gradually add icing sugar and continue beating on high speed to form a white and creamy texture. Add few drops of lemon juice to retain the whiteness.