Kardolicious: February 2014

Spiced Rum Banana Bread

I had bananas that were mushy and way past their prime. Now most people would throw out these bananas, but not me. Infact I wait for them to over ripe. I know its weird, but in my opinion over ripened bananas have more potential than its just-ripe ancestor. Not only is it sweeter, making it perfect for desserts, its also melt in your mouth soft. One of the many things I do with leftover bananas, is make banana bread. Did I mention you can make this in one bowl?

Adapted from www.smittenkitchen.com

Makes 1 loaf to fit a tin of approx.16"

4 ripe bananas (I used those big Kerala plantains. If you are using regular bananas I'd suggest using 6)
1/3 cup melted salted butter
3/4 cup brown sugar (over ripened bananas are generally sweeter hence I cut down on the sugar, you can up the level of sweetness)
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 tbsp dark rum
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon powder
1 tsp nutmeg
1 1/4 cup flour

Preheat the oven to 175°C. In a large bowl cut and mash the bananas. Its ok if the bananas are not equally mashed and its lumpy. Mix in all ingredients except the flour and baking soda. Mix to combine. Now add in the baking soda and mix in. Add the flour last, and mix. Pour the mixture into a buttered loaf tin. Bake for approx. 1hour or until a tester comes out clean. Cool, and then slice to serve.

I think the best thing I love about this bread is the cracked top crust.

Tip: If you prefer a more savoury bread, add a pinch of salt. But note that I've used salted butter so be careful how much salt you add

You can eat as is. I had some leftover buttercream frosting from my red velvet recipe which I happily slathered here.

Chai Panacotta

Panna Cotta is an italian dessert of sweetened cream that is chilled and set with gelatin. The best way to describe it is also the worst way to describe it...it essentially a milk cream jelly...kinda like a cross between a pudding and custard. But the beauty of this dish is that its so incredibly easy to make. If it takes you more than 10mins to make, you are definitely doing something wrong.

Pannacotta is also very versatile. It gives a lot of leeway while cooking, and you can experiment infusing it with anything under the sun. Traditionally vanilla was infused...but that is so vanilla! Bad puns aside, I'm infusing mine with these fancy teas (early grey & english breakfast to be more specific) I got from a trip to London. You can obviously use regular tea bags. Also, how cute is the mug?!

Adapted from www.davidlebovitz.com

Makes enough for 4

1 cup fresh cream
1 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 vanilla bean or 1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tbsp gelatin (see notes below on gelatin before using)
2 tea bags (optional: If you don't like tea or just want to try making traditional pannacotta just skip the tea bags)

Heat the milk, cream and sugar in a saucepan. Ensure the heat is turned on low. Stir occasionally to ensure the sugar has dissolved. Once all ingredients are combined add in the vanilla extract. If using vanilla bean, cut the bean in half and scrape the seeds from (both sides of) the bean into the cream mix. The pod is also flavour, so toss the whole pod into the pan as well.

I used vanilla bean pod here and let me tell you, there is ABSOLUTELY no replacing it. The flavour you get with just one measly bean! An essence can never deliver the same flavour. So while it maybe expensive, for dishes like these I'd really recommend spending that extra 200 bucks. I got two beans in one tube. I used one for this dish and the other I mixed with my icing sugar bottle to make vanilla sugar. So there you go, it is definitely not a waste and definitely worth every penny.

I'm digressing! At this point add in the tea bags as well. Cover the pan and let it infuse on a low heat for 10 mins. The mixture shouldn't come to a boil. If you think it is going to start boiling, remove from heat and let it infuse on its own for 10 mins. Remove the tea bags and vanilla bean once infused. Taste to check if its yum. Pour gelatin into the hot pannacotta mix and stir till fully disolved.

Lightly oil cups or bowls with a neutral tasting oil (I used sunflower). Pour the mix in the cups and let them cool down to room temperature before chilling in the fridge. Chill overnight or until the gelatin sets.

Run a sharp knife around the edge of each panna cotta and unmold onto a serving plate. Serve as is or with summer berries.

Tip: If you are lazy like me or pressed for time, pour the panna cotta mixture into martini or wine glasses and chill so that you can serve them in the glasses without unmolding

P.S: I know you will say that my Panna Cotta looks 'dirty'. Those little polka dots are flecks of Vanilla beans and if u ask me, it looks prettier this way

Note: I have only used powdered gelatin so far, and to be honest I haven't found sheet gelatin anywhere in Mumbai

Sprinkle granules over the surface of cold water. I used 1 cup of water for 1tbsp of powdered gelatin. Do not dump them in water as the granules in the middle wont dissolve. Let it stand for 10 mins. Heat gently to ensure all granules are dissolved. It is now ready to be poured into the pannacotta mix.

Everyone needs a breakfast dessert. My breakfast cuppa has never been this good.

Shepherd's Pie Stuffed Peppers

My mom recently went crazy at the butchers. She got some fantastic beef in 3 versions: minced, cubed & steak sliced. And obviously I am going to tell you what to do with each cut. Right now I'm focusing on minced meat. For a brilliant steak recipe, check out my previous post.

I didn't want to make the same old cutlet or potato chops that most pav households make. I wanted my minced meat to stand out. Which is why I opted for this recipe. For those of you who don't know, Shepherd's Pie is a traditional British dish of baked mince meat with a mashed potato 'crust' on top. You can obviously ask me why the peppers and why I decided to stuff this in it? Because I can, and because there were two massive peppers lying waste in my fridge. And it looks so pretty! All my recipes are born out of me peering into my fridge and checking which ingredients will expire soon and which I think I can throw together.

Don't eat beef? No problem. All my dishes can be substituted with chicken.

2 large Bell Peppers
2 Potatoes
200gms Beef
2 onions chopped
1 bay leaf
1 cinnamon stick (whole)
1tbsp butter
1tsp Worcestershire sauce
1tsp Vinegar
1 tsp chopped ginger
1tsp chopped garlic
1 tbsp coarsely ground pepper
1 cup grated cheese (optional)
Salt to taste

Note: 1 tbsp of pepper might seem a little too much to most. Baking or grilling bell peppers brings out its inherent sweetness and hence the hit of peppered beef to balance out the flavours. Incase this is too much, sprinkle chilli or pepper to the beef according to your taste and preference.

Melt some butter in a large pan. Add the onions, ginger and garlic and sauté till onions are translucent. Now add the beef and reduce heat to a simmer. Add the bay leaf & cinnamon stick. Make sure these are whole spices as we will be removing them once the beef is cooked. You don't wanna chew a big bark of cinnamon with minced meat.

Add the worcestershire sauce, pepper and vinegar. Let the meat cook in its own juices. Once cooked, increase the heat on the gas. Stir often to prevent it from sticking to the base of the pan. Once all the liquid has evaporated and the meat is completely dry, remove the bay leaf and cinnamon stick.

In another pan boil potatoes in salted water. Once cooked, peel and mash.

Cut off the tops of the peppers and scoop up the seeds inside. You should be left with a hollow pepper mould. Stuff one teaspoon of the beef mixture. Press down to flatten it with the back of your spoon. It should give you a nice even layer. Now spoon in a teaspoon of the mashed potatoes. Again flatten surface with the back of the spoon to even it out. Repeat this process till the peppers are 90% stuffed.

The peppers will contract little with heat, which is why its important to not over stuff them or your stuffing will spill out. Bake in the oven for 15 mins at 130 degrees Celsius. The peppers should start wrinkling up but still hold its shape. Now add grated cheese to the top and fill the remaining 10% space that you left. Grill for 10 mins or until the cheese on top melts or gives a nice golden crust.

Asian Style Beef Steak

Steaks are effortless cooking. All you need is an all star marinade and around 5-10 mins of cooking time. But when you say the word steak, your mind immediately associates it with America & Texas style barbecues. So today I'm going to break away from the stereotype. I am not going for a traditional American marinade. Instead, I'm looking the other way, I'm looking eastward. My steak today is Asian inspired, the ingredients I've used are very yin and yang. I'm using soy sauce which is salty, sugar which is sweet, orange juice which is tart, cinnamon and cloves give a liquorice flavour, and finally BBQ sauce which is tangy. So as you can see its a combination of different flavours that come together beautifully, to make a steak that is finger licking good!

Makes enough for 4 slices of steak

For the marinade:

2 tbsp Black bean paste
2 tbsp BBQ sauce
2 tbsp Soy sauce
1 tbsp orange juice or Tang powder
1 tsp brown sugar (regular sugar will do, but brown sugar gives a nice colour)
4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
Finely chopped ginger (approx 3" root)
3 Cloves
1 stick of cinnamon
1 tsp Peanut or Sesame (til) oil
A pinch of pepper
Note: Salt is omitted on purpose as soy sauce is naturally salty

Mix all ingredients in a bowl and mix to combine. Toss in the meat and using your hands ensure that the marinade is equally slathered on all meat slices. Leave to rest overnight or for a minimum of four hours before use.

Cook meat on a skillet at high heat according to doneness. Be careful as since the marinade is a little runny, it might start splattering will the heat. Below is a basic time reference for cooking an inch thick slice of beef. Ofcourse if you are using chicken instead, you don't have to worry about this as you cook the chicken through and through.

Thickness	Rare	Medium	Well
1"	6-8	8-10	10-14

I like my steak medium-well so I cooked it for approx 9-10mins.

Serve piping hot off the grill with some mashed potatoes. Since I was going for oriental flavours, I've added some spring onions to my potato mash.

Red Velvet Cake with a Raspberry Buttercream & Fondant icing

I love love love red velvet cakes. After cheesecakes, it is my all time favourite kind of cake. A bit of trivia for you...red velvet cakes are actually really rich chocolate cakes. Yep! If I don't add the red colour, you'd never know your eating one! In olden days the reaction of unprocessed cocoa powder with the buttermilk acids would give the cake a reddish tinge. Ofcourse nowadays we use food colouring for the desired effect.

It was mum's 50th birthday & I wanted to bake something really special. So I decided I'd make a red velvet cake and go further & ice it with fondant. I have never used fondant in my life so I did a lot of research before attempting it. The results were beautiful ofcourse, and I would definitely encourage you to try. But before you do, please read my two cents on using fondant. You will thank your stars later.

Adapted from bestcupcakerecipes.blogspot.in

2 1/2 cups flour
1tsp baking powder
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp white vinegar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp red food colouring
A pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius and grease cake tin.

In a bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, cocoa podwer and salt. In a small cup mix food colouring with 1tsp water to form a paste.

In a large bowl beat butter and sugar together till creamy and incorporated. Beat in eggs one at a time, followed by vanilla essence. Add one third of the flour mixture, beat well, then add one third of the buttermilk. Repeat this step till the last of the flour and buttermilk are incorporated.

Now add the red colour paste. In a small bowl add the baking soda. Now hold this bowl on top of your main cake batter and then pour the vinegar. The mixture will fizz and may overflow, which is fine as it will fall in your cake mix. Now pour this vinegar mix to the cake batter and stir well to combine.

Pour in cake tin, and bake for approx. 20mins. Insert a toothpick to the centre of the cake and if it comes out clean, its done. Cool the cake completely before frosting. Traditionally this cake is iced with a cream cheese frosting, but since I'm also using fondant, I'm going to stick to a buttercream frosting which forms the perfect crumb coat.

For the frosting:

100gms white chocolate
100 gms unsalted butter
50gms icing sugar
1 tbsp Raspberry essence (optional)

Mix butter and sugar till smooth and creamy. Add in melted white chocolate and raspberry essence, till spreadable consistency.

Now comes the tricky bit.

Spread this icing on the cake and make it as smooth as possible. This icing forms the crumb coat or the glue between your cake and fondant. Take a flat knife and scrape of any excess. You should aim for a thin, even coat.

Chill the cake, and let the icing set and harden. Remove the cake from the fridge 15mins before you plan to use the fondant, just to get the cake to room temperature.

Now to the fondant. Just knead, roll & coat.

I wish it were that simple. There are so many aspects to keep in mind that it deserves another blog entry. Please read my post on what to do with fondant. I also referred to this & this video to help me out. You can also add colour to a portion of your fondant (like I did) to add some colour & design to the cake.

And sprinkles always makes the world good :)

Fondant 101

Fondant...say what?

Fondant is a kind of icing frequently used to decorate & sculpt cakes. There are two kinds of fondant - poured & rolled. Poured fondant is more runny and its usually used to fill cakes. Rolled fondant is more malleable - resembles a dough - and is used to cover & sculpt cakes.

I have used only RTR (ready to roll) or rolled fondant so far.

Rolling the fondant:

A clean smooth surface is essential while rolling and kneading fondant. Fondant picks up dirt and lint very easily, so make sure your hands and kneading surface is spick and span. I also cover the rolling surface with parchment paper just incase.
Dust your hands and rolling surface with cornflour before handling fondant to ensure it doesn't stick.
Knead fondant so that its soft & pliable before rolling
Kneading icing is a little different from kneading dough. Treat your icing like play dough, keep folding it in until smooth & warm to use but does not stick to the bench.
Use a rolling pin to roll like you would any normal dough. The ideal thickness is approx. 3mm. You don't want a thick blanket of fondant to over power the cake nor it be so thin that it tears at corners.

Storing Fondant:

DO NOT store fondant in the fridge or freezer.
The same goes for cakes that are covered with fondant. Store in a cool dry place, but never in the fridge.
Store leftover fondant by wrapping it in plastic wrap and then storing in an airtight container.
Fondant should be stored in a cool dry place, away from direct sunlight.

FYI:

Prior to applying the fondant, ensure your cake is lightly iced with a buttercream or ganache icing. You can also take jam and glaze it. In doing so, you are giving the cake a kinda glue to let the fondant stick.
Fondant is a very unforgiving meduim. Make sure your cake is perfectly smooth. The fondant will magnify any imperfections.
The icing dries out very quickly so its important to work quickly and give your cake your undivided attention. Delay will cause your icing to crack.
If you aren't using the icing even for a minute, put it in a plastic bag or cover to avoid it drying out.
If your hands are hot or moist, it will make your icing sticky and which in turn will tempt you to over use corn flour that will dry out your icing. Cool your hands under cold water and keep the use of corn flour to a minimum (light sprinkle should do).
Never cover a cake straight from the fridge. Always cover cakes at room temperature.

Troubleshooting:

If the fondant gets too sticky or soft, knead in a little icing sugar
Sometimes when you cover the cake you might find some air bubble on the surface. With a clean pin, pop these gently and then smoothen with your fingers to cover the hole.
Fondant usually tears when its rolled too thinly. You cannot re-use your fondant if it has touched the cake. My best advice is to cover up the tear with some kind of decoration.
Fondant cracks if its usually rolled too thick. You can usually smooth away cracks with your hands or a smoother while the fondant is still soft.

Spaghetti Carbonara

10 minutes. 5 ingredients. 2 bowls.

Crack eggs. Boil Pasta. Impress date.

If you don't know what a Carbonara is, all you need to know is that it involves life's 3 best ingredients: bacon, eggs & pasta. I'd like to tell you that its a really wholesome meal as it contains the main food groups: carbs (pasta), protein (eggs), fat (bacon) and maybe some dairy (cheese/cream) if you choose. And it is ridiculously simple to make. Its a classic Italian dish, which means a glass of wine is mandatory.

Serves 4:

5 egg yolks & 1 whole egg
Bacon (who wants to put a measure on bacon? the more the better)
One fist full of Spaghetti (you can use any pasta, but spaghetti is best for this dish)
Salt & pepper to taste
1/2 cup cheese
2tbsp cream (optional)

Cut the bacon to bite sized pieces. Sauté on medium heat till the fat renders. Make sure you use a big utensil, like a casserole, for the bacon. This utensil is where the magic happens and will also double up as a serving bowl.

Meanwhile, cook pasta in a pot of boiling water till al dente. Remove bacon from heat when done, and let it cool (the bowl should be warm not pipping hot). Add egg yolks and egg to the bacon and whisk to blend.

Drain the pasta once done, reserving some of the pasta water. Immediately add pasta to the egg mix. Toss to coat. Add some of the pasta water incase you find the mix too sticky and thick. Work the pasta in batches. Add some pasta, toss, and then repeat till all the pasta is added. Add a lot of pepper (atleast 3tsp). Keep tossing till sauce thickens. Add salt.

Taste. The mixture shouldn't taste eggy. The principle is that the pipping hot pasta is enough to cook the egg. In case you find the egg taste too pronounce, add in some cream and put on a low heat for 5-7mins stirring occasionally.

Divide among bowls to serve or do what I do and have it straight out of the serving bowl :) Garnish with cheese.

Note: It may not look it, but this is a very heavy dish. Serve small portions.
In case you find the dish too bland (and I know most Indians would), grate some nutmeg, add some chilli flakes and basil.

Crackling French Toast

Don't you just love waking up to the smell of French Toast? The smell of cinnamonny, warm, buttery bread...so comforting! I've taken the traditional recipe and twisted it to this crunchy, crackling version. I wanted to name this post 'French Toast Crème Brule', since I had the same technique in mind. Unfortunately, since I don't own a blow torch (and I'm guessing neither do you), I'm going for a 'crackle' at the top instead of a 'burnt' caramel on top. You see the golden bits in the picture below?

Makes enough for 1

2 slices of bread
2 tbsp cream
1 tbsp milk
1 egg
2 tbsp powdered sugar
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
Salted butter to fry

Optional:
A pinch of nutmeg
A pinch of cinnamon
1 tsp Grand Marnier

For the garnish:
3-4 strawberries
Chocolate sauce or ganache

Cut the crusts off the bread. I like mine with crusts et all so I skipped this step.

Tip: If you are making this for valentine's day or just want to splurge, I recommend you use Brioche instead of regular sliced bread. Trust me, it makes all the difference.

In a bowl whisk in all ingredients minus the bread, brown sugar and the butter.

Heat some butter in a flat bottomed pan. Dip the bread in the mixture. Turn the bread to ensure it soaks up the liquid evenly. Now 'fry' this in the buttered pan. Sprinkle the brown sugar on the top side of the toast. Once the bottom is golden brown flip over. The sugared top will face the heated pan now. The heat will melt the sugar and create caramelized bits on the toast surface. Remove from pan once both sides are golden brown.

As a alternate to this, if you have some time, I would recommend making caramel in a separate pan and spooning some over the top of the toast.

To serve, slice up strawberries and arrange to make a french toast sandwich. Drizzle with chocolate sauce.

Now how can you resist that?!

Instead of frying you can also pour the mix over the bread slices and bake them as a 'healthy' alternative.

Caramelized Onion Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Valentine's Day is nice. But wouldn't you rather have this hottie for dinner? (pun intended). Cheesy lines aside...I had a lot of my French Onion Soup leftover. So I used the onions from the soup for this recipe. I'll find another way to use the rich soup broth, thank you for asking. I should ideally name this French Onion Soup sandwich, but who cares about technicalities?

This sandwich is sex on toast (again pun intended).

Ingredients:

2 slices of bread
1 tbsp caramelized onions
2 slices cheese
Salt & Pepper to taste

Toast the bread with some butter (optional). I used regular sliced bread, but I'd really recommend using a baguette for this sandwich. The crusty bread is perfect for the soft filling. Add the cheese slices to the open faced bread and microwave for 10secs. The aim is to soften the cheese so that its just about to melt. I used regular sliced cheese, but if you are in a mood to indulge Gruyère or Brie is what I would recommend.

Now spoon in the onions and bring the sandwich together. Et Viola!

Beetroot Gnocchi

I have a little treat for you guys today. Shrey Kamerkar, Sous Chef at Hyatt and my future husband, has been kind enough to guest blog for me.

He's created some simple gourmet dishes which will make your plate look spectacular, and your cooking skills seem 5star ready. I will be sharing his recipes in a 3 part series starting with this Gnocchi recipe.

For those of you who are wondering what on earth gnocchi (pronouced nyo-kki) is, it is a kind of pasta made from potatoes. In its essence, it is a boiled potato dumpling which you can serve with a variety of sauces.

Makes enough for 6 people

4 Potatoes (approx 250gms)
2 Beetroot
2 Egg yolks
1 cup Flour
1 cup Parmesan cheese (optional)
Salt & Pepper to taste

Fill a large pot with water & bring to boil. Peel & cut the potatoes & beet in half and add it to the water. Add in salt to taste. Bring to boil and cook till extremely tender (approx 40mins to an hour). Once done, scoop out the veggies with a slotted spoon. Save the water to recycle later.

From now on, you would have to work relatively quickly. Mash the veggies immediately. I used a masher and passed it on a sieve so that I got a really fine end product. Don't over mash, just aim for an even consistency with no noticeable lumps. Also, take a minute and admire the beautiful colour!

Now let this mash cool long enough so that its warm, but won't cook the egg when you add it. Get ready to get your hands dirty. Put the mashed veggies in a large flat surface. Make a 'well' in the centre. Add the egg yolk in this 'well'. Sprinkle the rest of the ingredients across the top. With your hands, mix to incorporate all ingredients until its like a sticky crumble. Now dust some flour on your hands and the flat surface, and knead to a dough. Add some flour if its too sticky. The final dough should be moist, not sticky.

Now I made rough 'tubes' out of the dough by rolling it on my palms. This is quick and easy if you aren't too fussy about shapes. But traditionally the dough is rolled to a snake like log and thumb sized pieces are cut using a knife. You can also shape the gnocchi with a fork (but seriously...who has time for such fancy work?).

Dust with some flour if needed, and add to boiling water. I reheated the potato & beetroot water and used it instead (more eco-friendly). If you are starting afresh, make sure your pot is salted. Cook the gnocchi in batches by dropping a handful at a time. You know they are ready when they pop to the top. Scoop them out with a slotted spoon a minute after they pop up. Ideally I would recommend making the sauce before hand and dropping these babies in the ready sauce. Since I was too lazy to have some sauce ready, I dropped them in cold water to stop them from cooking.

For the sauce:

100gms butter
2tbsp finely chopped Garlic
1 cup White Wine

There is absolutely nothing better that gnocchi in some pesto. But since this isn't traditional gnocchi I'm going to make a simple yet delicious, butter garlic sauce. In a sauce pan, melt the butter and add in the garlic. Sauté for 2mins. Turn up the heat to high and add in the white wine. Swivel the pan to incorporate. Don't panic if it flames up. Now reduce the heat and add in the gnocchi. Toss in veggies if you like. I added broccoli, mushrooms and cherry tomatoes. Sauté for another minute or two. Serve immediately.