Cioccolata Calda - Italian Hot Chocolate

Real Mothers don't eat quiche;

they don't have time to make it. 

Real Mothers know that their kitchen utensils 

Are probably in the sandbox.

Real Mothers often have sticky floors, 

Filthy ovens and happy kids.

Real Mothers know that dried play dough

doesn't come out of carpets. 

Real Mothers don't want to know what

The vacuum just sucked up...

Real Mothers sometimes ask, 'Why me?'

And get their answer with a little

Voice that says, 'Because I love you best...'

Happy Mothers Day! 

Moms, treat yourself to some decadent Italian Hot Chocolate today - you deserve it. 

I made this today as requested by my son: 

Italian Hot Chocolate or Cioccolata Calda 

From the recipe at Bell'alimento

100g good quality chocolate with 70% cocoa or higher, roughly chopped

1.5 cups whole milk

2 tablespoons sugar

2 tsp cornstarch

Heat the milk in a small saucepan over medium heat till bubbles form on the sides. Add in the sugar at this point and stir until dissolved.

In a small cup, mix the cornstarch with a few tablespoons of the warm milk and return the mixture to the saucepan, stirring for 2-3 minutes till the milk thickens a little. 

Turn heat to low & add in the chopped chocolate. Stir, remove from heat and continue to stir until the chocolate is dissolved. 

Pour into cups and consume immediately. 

Aloo Paalak: Potato and Spinach Curry

While I was preparing dinner last night, I reminisced fondly how my grandmother would always scold me over the mess I made in the kitchen while I cooked.

According to her, I used too many utensils due to my constant need to measure things precisely and, in doing so, cluttered up her kitchen. I've improved only slightly over the years and so she wouldn't be too impressed if she were to see me now!

She lived with us while I was growing up, and the kitchen was her personal territory. Her repertoire was limited to very basic, every day food but the amount of love and attention she paid to its preparation belied the simplicity of her meals. 

Aloo Paalak is one dish that she makes extremely well. It is a very simple one to prepare but regardless of how many times I've made it; I still can't get it to taste like my grandmothers version. I'm not saying it's not good - it just doesn't taste like hers.

Lately I miss her immensely and don't know when I will be seeing her next so for now, Aloo Paalak mingled with comforting memories will have to do. 

Here's the recipe: 

Aloo Paalak

Spinach, 1 kg

Potatoes 2 medium, peeled and diced

Onions, 3 medium, thinly sliced

Tomatoes, 2 medium

Coriander powder, 1 tbsp

Salt, 1 tsp

Red chili powder, 1/2 tsp

Kasuri Methi (Dried Fenugreek Leaves), 1 tbsp

1-2 tbsp cooking oil

2-3 green chillies (stems removed) and approx. 2 tbsp chopped, fresh coriander leaves, for garnish

Rinse Spinach well, pat dry and chop. Don't discard the stems - they contain a lot of flavor - chop along with the Spinach leaves.

Fry the sliced onion over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for about 15 minutes or until golden brown. Add the tomatoes, coriander powder, salt and red chili powder along with a splash of water and stir fry over medium high heat until the tomatoes are pulpy and the oil has separated.

Add chopped spinach, stir fry for a couple of minutes.  Fresh Spinach releases its own water, let it cook in it over medium heat till the water is reduced.  Add approx. 1.5 cup water and simmer for a few minutes till the spinach is tender. Add potatoes, reduce heat, cover and simmer around 15 mins or until the potatoes are cooked (shouldn't be mushy or falling apart). 

Increase heat and stir fry a couple of minutes to dry  any excessive  water. 

Sprinkle the Kasuri Methi and mix well. Throw in the coriander leaves and green chillies, cover and turn off the heat.

Allow the aromas from the coriander leaves and chillies to infuse for a few minutes, serve.

Lokoum a.k.a Turkish Delight

I read 'The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe' when I was 9. 

Needless to say I fell in love with Magical Narnia with its talking animals and mythical creatures. 

The Witch tempted one of the characters, Edmund, with Turkish Delight and was eventually able to bring him over to her side once he succumbed to the addictive confection. 

"It is dull, Son of Adam, to drink without eating" said the Queen presently. "What would you like best to eat?"

"Turkish Delight, please, your Majesty," said Edmund. 

The Queen let another drop fall from her bottle onto the snow, and instantly there appeared a round box, tied with green silk ribbon, which, when opened, turned out to contain several pounds of the best Turkish Delight. Each piece was sweet and light to the very center and Edmund had never tasted anything more delicious. He was quite warm now, and very comfortable.
 

I still remember how strong my mental image of Turkish Delight was; I imagined it to be fantastical: sweet, cloudy, melting in the mouth. . . it wasn't until almost two decades later that I finally got to try Lokoum for myself, on a trip to Istanbul. 

It is everything it promises to be; although it might just have been a little  bit more amazing in my 9-yr old imagination! I love it in all its varieties (of which there are several), the one with Pistachios being my favorite. 

I would have never thought of making it myself. But I came across a blog called Home Baked while randomly browsing one day and read about Hannah's Home Baked Challenge for March which was 'food inspired from fictional books'. Right away I thought of the Narnia Chronicles and Turkish Delight. And so I wanted in!

I was all set to make the Turkish Delight on Sunday - well in advance, according to myself, since I mistakenly thought the deadline for posting the challenge was March 25th. A casual look at Hannah's blog made me realize my mistake: it was due before midnight on March 21st. What made it worse was that I had forgotten my camera at a friend's place over the weekend and wouldn't be able to get it back for another day. So, even if I made the Turkish Delight, I wouldn't be able to take photos. 

So I decided to relax about the whole thing - try the recipe when I got the camera back and just blog about it later. 

And so here, I am. A day late. On to the recipe:

Shahi Tukray : A Pakistani/Indian Bread Pudding

This post can alternatively be titled "how not to make friends and influence people". 

I mentioned that I moved last week, right? On my third day in the new neighborhood I found myself invited to a tea party (later in the week) at the house of the neighbor who lives across the street from me. It was awfully sweet of her to invite me in an effort to introduce me to a small group of Sout-East Asian (read Pakistani & Indian) ladies from the neighborhood. I was told it was a pot-luck but I was not obliged to bring anything because I have my hands full, not to mention my luck running completely down the drain with my oven and refrigerator going kaput the moment we moved in, as well as various plumbing-related disasters (more on those horror stories later). 

I wanted to take something along anyway. But baking was out of the question. However, by some stroke of luck my refrigerator came to life a day before the party, so I figured I could manage to cook some kind of dessert on the stove. And I thought: Shahi Tukray. It's a wonderful Pakistani dessert; one that I really enjoy making and consuming, and I can't think of many Pakistanis or Indians who don't love it as well as I do.  

It was a brilliant idea (according to myself) . . . but then I decided to reduce the amount of sugar to almost 1/4th of what I generally use. Some evil voice in my head whispered that I ought to make it less sweet. And so I ruined the dessert. Which I discovered too late: at the party. 

These things happen. You have to take them in your stride.

But you just don't want them happening when you're meeting a group of strangers for the first time in your life. 

Talk about Social-Suicide: torture their taste buds; ruin your social status forever. 

If you never hear neighborhood-related pot-luck stories from me ever again, you will know why. 

On to the recipe, in it's unaltered form. 

One warning before I proceed: any Indian/Pakistani dish (either savory or sweet) beginning with the word 'Shahi' (which means Royal) is bound to be decadent and super-rich; full of cream or sugar or fat or nuts or all four combined. 

If none of that is for you, turn around now and stop reading this post. 

Shahi Tukray

4-6 slices of white bread, crusts removed and cut into triangles

1 litre milk (it doesn't matter if you use low-fat, it won't alter the carb/fat content of this dessert)

6-8 cardamom pods, split open

1/2 - 3/4 cup sugar 

1 cup powdered milk

A couple of tablespoons of Ghee (Clarified Butter) for frying

Chopped pistachios/almonds for garnish

Fry the bread triangles in ghee till both sides are golden brown. 

I prefer to spread a very thin layer of ghee on both sides of the bread and place it in a hot, un-greased pan. I like to believe that I'm using less ghee that way. 

The ghee can be substituted with butter if you can't find it, but don't try to substitute it with margarine because it will taste awful.  

Once the bread is fried, arrange it in a dish any way that you like. I cut mine into smaller triangles this time and so I randomly layered them on top of each other. 

Place the milk, cardamom, sugar and powdered milk in a heavy-based pan. Mix well and simmer on medium-low heat, stirring every now and then,  till the sugar has dissolved and the milk mixture has slightly reduced (About 45 mins - 1 hour).

Remove from heat, spoon the hot milk all over the bread triangles; making sure all of them are covered. 

Let cool for 10 mins before covering with cling-film. Refrigerate at least 6 hours or overnight before serving. 

Garnish with chopped pistachios or almonds (or both). Serve. 

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins - Baking With Dorie

This is the first thing that my baking buddy Susi and I have baked out of Dorie Greenspan's book Baking: From My Home To Yours, for our Baking with Dorie Challenge .

When I was starting out, I thought about halving this recipe because I wasn't sure anybody at my house would care for anything lemon-flavored. I was pleasantly surprised when no one turned them away and my kids even asked for more. 

The poppy seeds add an interesting crunch to these subtly flavored muffins. Topped with the tart lemon glaze, they're simply wonderful. As usual, Dorie Greenspan does not disappoint.

The only variation I made to this recipe is that I used white poppy seeds because those are the ones that I had on hand. Aesthetically, they don't do much for the muffins because they aren't visible. I sprinkled some on the top of my muffins before baking them just so that they would show up for the photos. Before using, I did verify through research online that they would not make any difference to the flavor of this recipe because that is the last thing I wanted. 

Nutella + Fudge Brownie Ice cream

 

I can't seem to leave ice cream alone. 

But this ice cream is the best thing to have ever come out of my kitchen. I kid you not - it is no less than amazing. And I've made it many times over and devoured it all by myself. All credit for this supremely delicious invention goes to Clotilde of Chocolate & Zucchini. 

Do yourself a favor and make this today. 

It's full of Nutella. You know you can't fight it. So don't.

Pain au Chocolat

I love pain au chocolat. 

It reminds me of solitary walks on cold winter days.

I love just walking around on my own. I do it less for fitness and more because it makes me feel good. In my early 20's when I lived away from home for a year, I used to walk out of necessity. I had to get to places and so I did a lot of walking which invariably led to a lot of thinking and self-analysis. Walking always clears my head and helps me stay calm and focused. 

In the course of all that walking, I used to stop over at a small bakery not far from where I lived. If I got there early enough in the morning, I could get myself some still-warm-and-fresh-from-the-oven heavenly smelling pain au chocolat. Flaky and crispy on the outside, soft in the middle with a center of warm, gooey chocolate. Such a rich treat, but so light and airy, you are deceived into believing otherwise.

It was the best I have ever had. Maybe because it was freshly baked. Maybe it was the kind of chocolate filling they used. Maybe because I was 21 and every experience, culinary or otherwise, seems awesome or exaggerated in hindsight. 

 

Recently watching Meryl Streep making chocolate croissants in 'It's complicated' has had me thinking about that pain au chocolat all week. Then  this blog post I came across here finally compelled me to give it a try and make my own.