Easy Strawberry-Blueberry Tea Cake

Yesterday, I had the 3rd edition of my bread baking workshop - Breaking Bread. We made a rocket-basil-yellow cherry tomato pizza from scratch. Fluffy golden Mumbai pav was served with bhaaji. The cinnamon rolls we made today were turned extra special by adding raisins and orange zest soaked in brandy to the cinnamon-sugar mix. To add to the party we also made a little pull apart loaf using the left over dough spread with chocolate paste- which came out all ooey, gooey and chocolatey and made all the ladies go OOOOH The last one in the bread party was a braided bread dressed with sesame seeds.

Facebook Album: Photos from Breaking Bread -2 

 The best part of the afternoon for me was one of the participants telling me that the pizza was as good as the Toscano pizza and I'm a big fan of Toscano, they serve the best pizza in Whitefield. Photos of Breaking Bread-3 After 4 hours of talking, kneading, baking and walking to and from the oven - I'm invariably wrung-out tired and want to retire into a cave and snooze the whole of Sunday. But rarely does that happen.

Today, I ended up waking earlier than usual. Early coffee, early breakfast, early lunch and suddenly the day loomed in front of me as though telling me 'do something useful now'. After 3 rounds of doing dishes, cleaning up the kitchen, crazy people like me add another chore to the routine like baking, messing up 3 bowls and adding to the washing up. But fact is, baking rarely feels like a chore. Strawberries are in season. And have I told you, I've found the perfect brand of frozen blueberries (see resource section in the end). And since the cake is mostly sweetened using organic powdered jaggery, I don't feel too guilty about my son coming to the kitchen for multiple servings as a Sunday treat.Try this while the strawberries are in season. If you don't find blueberries, use any other mushy fruit like figs, which are also very much in season. It makes the perfect little bite along with tea or coffee. Simple, rustic and  beautiful. 

And hello! December workshops at Saffron Trail Kitchen are going to be dedicated to a round of Xmas goodies, except for a Salad workshop for a bunch of salad-loving girls. Stay updated by following Saffron Trail on Facebook.

Recipe for Strawberry-Blueberry Tea Cake
Makes 8-10 servings


Ingredients
1/2 cup maida
1/2 cup whole wheat flour 
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 egg
2 tbsp yogurt
2 tbsp cooking oil (neutral tasting like sunflower oil)
1/2 cup powdered jaggery
1/4 cup sugar
2 drops orange oil extract or 1 tsp vanilla extract
3-4 tbsp milk
1 cup finely chopped strawberries
1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
Icing sugar to dust over the top (optional)

Directions
Preheat oven at 180°C. Line a 9X7" baking sheet (to make a sheet cake) or a 6" round tin with baking paper or grease well and keep aside.
Into a large bowl, sieve the dry ingredients. Keep aside.
In another bowl, whisk the egg, yogurt, oil, powdered jaggery and sugar for 3-4 minutes till well combined and frothy.
To this, slowly add the dry ingredients and combine with a whisk or fork. Add 3-4 tbsp of milk as it will be quite thick at this stage and whisk into the batter. Into this mix in gently the chopped strawberries and frozen blueberries.
Scrape out the batter into the lined baking tin. 
Bake for 20 mins in case of 9X7 tin or for 30 mins in case of 6" round tin, in both cases, testing with a skewer if it comes out clean.
Cool for 10 minutes after which you can cut as desired and serve hot with a dusting of icing sugar using a small sieve.
Refrigerate the leftovers - they make excellent reasonably healthy treats for kids' lunchboxes.

Shopping guide:
Organic powdered jaggery: Namdhari's
Frozen blueberries: Delissh brand from Auchan (formerly Spar)

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Hot breakfast in 5 minutes - I'm not kidding!

Hot breakfast in 5 minutes, and it's not cereal or toast or a fried egg! Or a smoothie for that matter. It's this amazing thing called 'dhideer sevai' or instant rice noodles which you absolutely must stock in your kitchen. Unlike Maggi or any other 2 minute noodles, you don't have to cook them. Immerse them for 2 minutes in hot water, drain and they are ready. These are the REAL 2 minute noodles. They make for the quickest lunchbox you can rustle up. Make a lemon sevai or mix with any ready pastes like Tomato pickle / thokku to make a tomato sevai. Add a tempering of curry leaves, mustard seeds, red chillies on the top and it's ready.

In my 5 minute recipe, there's no ready pastes involved. I quickly pulsed roasted peanuts, sesame seeds and black pepper in the mixer and that was the flavouring for this dish that went into my kid's lunchbox today.

For sneak peek into my kitchen and to get instant updates on my upcoming workshops - follow me on my Facebook Page

Photos from the Breaking Bread Workshop of 9 Nov in the Saffron Trail kitchen  

Tips

• When you buy peanuts/groundnuts, roast them on the stove top / microwave or oven and keep in airtight jar. You can add them to a variety of dishes like salads, raitas, bhel etc.
• When you buy a coconut, grate / scrape the whole coconut and keep it in a freezer safe box. Whenever you need a small bit of grated coconut, scrape it out using a sharp knife and use as required. 

Sesame-Peanut Instant Sevai (Rice Noodles)
serves 2

Ingredients
100-150 grams instant rice noodles (Dhideer Sevai)*
1 litre recently boiled water
3 tbsp roasted unsalted peanuts
2 tbsp sesame seeds
8 black pepper corns
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp fresh/frozen scraped coconut
2 tsp oil (I use cold pressed coconut oil)
pinch of asafoetida
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1 sprig curry leaves 
1 dried red chilli broken into pieces

Directions
Immerse the noodles in the hot water, cover and keep aside for 2-3 minutes. In the meanwhile coarsely powder the roasted peanuts, sesame seeds and black pepper corns in a small jar of the mixer. 
Drain the noodles using a colander, shake off all excess water.
Heat 2 tsp oil in a non-stick kadai / pan. Splutter mustard seeds, add curry leaves, dried red chilli and asafoetida, when the curry leaves crisp up, add the drained noodles, salt and coarse peanut-sesame powder. Toss well but gently until the noodles / sevai is well coated.
Garnish with fresh coconut.

You could use the same recipe for poha (beaten rice).
*I've used Anil brand Rice Sevai, 777 brand and found them to be good.

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Last Minute Diwali Sweet Treat : Chocolate Burfi

This post brings you a Diwali (Deepavali) special recipe for my readers from my mom's kitchen, something that's ready in 30 minutes with easily available ingredients. So if you are like me, a totally last minute person, who is sometimes completely unprepared for the festivals that suddenly come up, this is the perfect recipe for you. 

In my usual style, last evening, I kept the pan on the flame and then called my mom, "How do you make your chocolate cake?". In my family, prior to my generation, the only cakes that were made at home were these kinda 'cakes' - or in culinary terms they would be better called 'squares' or 'fudge'. How soft or hard you want the burfi depends on how much time you allow this to be on heat. My recipe gives you an in between consistency, so it cuts into neat squares. If you want it more soft set, try to remove it from flame onto the baking sheet 5 minutes earlier. These burfis are pretty much trial and error, and are a little trickier than baking cakes, but they are fun experience with a fair bit of arm workout, which we all could do with, given how much we end up gorging on during the festive season. 

If you don't have cocoa powder or if you don't prefer chocolate flavour, [wondering if there are such people in the universe;)] you can avoid the cocoa and add powdered cardamom or a few saffron strands towards the end to get plain milk burfi.

So this special recipe from my mom's kitchen, especially for you! Your last minute, go-to Diwali treat recipe :) Happy Diwali from the Saffron Trail Kitchen to you and your loved ones.

For latest updates from my kitchen and to know about the workshops lined up from the Saffron Trail Kitchen, LIKE my facebook page - http://www.facebook.com/saffrontrail

Recipe for Chocolate Burfi (cake)
30 minutes
Makes 16-20 pieces, depending on the size

Ingredients
500 ml milk (3% cow's milk)
1 cup granulated sugar
4 tbsp ghee (clarified butter)
1 tbsp rava (semolina, fine is better)
2 tbsp cocoa powder + 3-4 tbsp warm milk

Directions

1. Line a deep dish or a baking tray with a parchment paper or grease with a few drops of ghee and keep aside. A size of 8x4" will do, but if you have a bigger thaali / dish, make sure you don't spread over the entire surface or the burfis will be very thin and fragile.
2. In a heavy bottomed pan, place the milk, sugar, ghee and rava. Bring to boil on a high flame with constant monitoring and stirring. Once it comes to a boil, reduce flame and allow to simmer with reasonably constant stirring to make sure the milk does not burn or catch at the bottom of the pan, or doesn't boil over.
3. After stirring and simmering for around 20 minutes, the milk will turn much thicker, roughly the consistency of dosa / pancake batter. Whisk the cocoa powder in warm milk and pour into the thickening milk with constant stirring.
4. In another 5-8 minutes (continue stirring), the mixture will turn much thicker leaving the sides of the pan. At this point switch off flame, because it will continue to thicken in the residual heat.
5. Pour / transfer the mixture over the greased parchment, taking care to spread over a smaller area if you want thicker burfis.
6. Let this cool for 15 minutes after which you can cut into squares / rectangular bars with a sharp knife or a pizza cutter.
7. Store in airtight container and consume in 3-4 days. Keeping them in the fridge makes them too hard and I personally don't like them cold.

They make excellent homemade gifts on Diwali on any other festival. You could easily double the recipe, using 1 litre of milk. That will take around 45 mins-1 hour to thicken and prepare into burfis.

More Diwali treats from the archives:

Okkarai
Teratti Paal - Milk fudge
Dudhi Halva - bottle gourd fudge
Baked Karanji
5 minute microwaved besan laddoo
Eggless mawa cake
Khaja

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Zesty Salads Workshop travels to Chennai - 15 November

My popular Zesty Salads workshop travels to Chennai in November. Details given in the poster. Please contact +919791088189 for more details. Limited seats only and pre-registration is required.

Please share the word with family & friends who might be interested!

Link to Facebook events and registration: https://www.facebook.com/events/762051450478333/

Follow http://www.facebook.com/saffrontrail and http://www.facebook.com/ashvitabistro for updates.

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Healthy Baking : Savoury Rosemary Coconut Cookies

After this healthy Ragi-Ginger cookie, I've been wanting to try out a savoury version using my favourite herb, rosemary. Rosemary features in one of my all time favourite cookies, the Rosemary Shortbread, but that's very heavy on butter. This is my attempt to feature rosemary in a healthier cookie. I've used black pepper and lemon zest to give a flavour boost. Desiccated coconut along with rice flour gives these a nice light texture. These are perfect for those who are trying to avoid sugar, or as holiday gifts for people who don't have a sweet tooth, or simply because you are fed up of too much sugar in the holiday season. Try this healthy cookie and let me know how you find it!

Recipe for Savoury Rosemary Coconut Cookies
Makes 24
Time taken - Under 30 minutes


Ingredients
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup ragi flour
1/4 cup rice flour
2 tbsp milk powder
1/4 cup dessicated coconut
1 tbsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
1 tsp ground black pepper
Zest of one lemon
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
3 tbsp cold butter, cut into small pieces
3-4 tbsp cold milk
1 tbsp crystal sugar

Method

1. Preheat the oven at 180° C.
2. Keep a baking tray ready, lined with silicone mat or a greased tin foil or parchment paper.
3. In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients except butter and milk, until well combined.
4. Add the butter pieces and with finger tips rub the mixture together until it feels like bread crumbs
5. Add milk 1 tbsp at a time and knead gently till it comes together like a dough. 
6. Divide into 24 equal balls, rolling each between lightly greased palms.
7. Lightly press into a disc and place on the lined baking tray, leaving some space between each disc so that there's place for cookie to expand.
8. Sprinkle a few crystals of sugar on top of each cookie. This is optional. You could stick a rosemary leaflet on each cookie instead.
9. Bake for 12 mins or until the tops turn lightly golden. Remove on a wire rack and cool. The cookies will crisp up on cooling. Save in airtight container.

You can substitute rosemary with fresh or dried thyme for a different flavour.

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The secret to making a glammed up eggplant curry

Eggplant is one vegetable that you can either hate or love but never ignore. For all my childhood, I was an eggplant hater, may be even allergic to some varieties. Nothing life threatening, just this crazy itching in my mouth when I ate some types of eggplant. Then for years I was a fence sitter. Okay, "this is made for lunch so I will eat the tiniest bit, just to keep you happy" kinda fence sitter. And then I discovered cooking this versatile vegetable and while I wont call myself an eggplant lover, I am now a fan. 

Baingan Bharta, Vangi baath, Baba Gannoush, stuffed eggplant, gosh I have quite a list of favourite recipes with this vegetable. This recipe is an easier variation of the stuffed eggplant. You still have to roast the spices and grind them, but no painstaking stuffing involved. This is the smarter way to enjoy the tastes of a stuffed eggplant. This dry curry goes well with rotis and great with rice and sambar. I have used the large round eggplant for this recipe, which is the kind I prefer because it has fewer seeds and cooks faster. But it should work well with any kind of eggplant. Make sure the pieces are uniformly chopped so they cook evenly. This coarsely ground spice powder is the secret to glamming up any boring vegetable or any vegetable you don't know what to do with.


Recipe for Spicy Eggplant Curry
Serves 4

Ingredients
2 tbsp oil
pinch of asafoetida
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
1 large globe eggplant cut into wedges or thick batons, soaked in water
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp amchoor powder or 1 tsp tamarind paste

Ingredients to grind for the spice mix:
3 large dried red chillies
2 tbsp chana dal
2 tbsp coriander seeds
1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds
1 tbsp fennel seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp udad dal
1 sprig curry leaves
1 bay leaf

Directions

In a large wok / kadai, dry roast all the spices together, until the chana dal and udad dal turn golden brown. Remove, cool and grind to a coarse powder.
In the same wok, heat 2 tbsp oil. Add the asafoetida and then drain and squeeze out all the water from the eggplant pieces and add them to the oil.
Add salt and turmeric and stir the eggplant till well coated. Lower the flame, add a little water at a time, around 1/4th cup, cover and cook the eggplant till nearly done. Don't cook to a mush.
Add the coarse spice powder, amchoor and coat the nearly cooked eggplant with the spices by stirring well. Cover for another 5 minutes with a sprinkle of water if required and let the eggplants cook completely while soaking up the flavours of the spices. The coarsely powdered dals give the vegetable a nice crunchy texture.
Serve hot with rotis or with dal & rice.

Note:
If you don't find a big eggplant, use 8-12 smaller sized eggplants for this, cutting each into wedges. This spice mix works for other vegetables like bottle gourd, snake gourd, capsicum, potato, sweet potato etc. Follow the same method of sauteeing the vegetable until nearly done, adding the spice mix, stirring to coat well and then cover and cook for 5 mins till vegetable is fully cooked and infused with spice flavours.

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9 ideas on what to gift a food lover

Festive season is upon us and it's that time of the year when everyone goes crazy thinking about what to gift their loved ones. Dryfruit dabbas filled with raisins, cashews and almonds are passé and probably the most unimaginative gifts around. Chocolates are done to death. Laddoos, erm... the less said about them, the better. Unless you want to send a gift to Chhota Bheem. 

“The excellence of a gift lies in its appropriateness rather than in its value.” ― Charles Dudley Warner

While I don't have much of a clue on what everybody likes, I think I have a fair idea on what's a good gift for a food-lover. Most of my finds are online, for everyone's convenience of course. This post is not sponsored by any stores / brands, just a collection of things I've found beautiful and useful.

Gorgeous Cake Stand

Source: Zansaar.com

Whether you like baking or whether you like buying cute cupcakes, this two tiered Price Kensington vintage looking cake stand is the perfect way to display cupcakes, muffins or cake slices. It's fun to serve sandwiches or even dried fruits to visitors on this stand. Anyone who loves to bake is going to be super thrilled to get this as a gift. INR 1295. Check out some of the small kitchen appliances, such as milk frother, hand mixers etc. on this website, Severin brand from Germany, brilliant designs at reasonable prices, you're sure to find a gift in your budget.
Where: zansaar.com

Utilitarian- Chic Mason Jars

Source: Urbandazzle.com

If there's one thing in my kitchen that I guard fiercely from breakage, it's my set of 12 mason jars in which I store spices, lentils etc. It's the classiest kitchen storage ever. It's also turning very fashionable to serve drinks in these bottles with a straw tucked in. Whether it's for storing preserves, pickles or anything else you fancy, these are a much welcome addition to any kitchen. A perfect gift for a kitchen proud person. At INR1480 for six 500 ml bottles, it's pretty reasonable too! 
Where: urbandazzle.com

Luxury Tea Hampers
I find a lot of people who are serious tea connoisseurs. They wouldn't take a sip of a tea whose origins / flush / estate they don't have knowledge of. If you have friends like these, there is a potential to wow/ woo them with specialty tea hampers. The online gourmet foods site, Gourmet Company has a tea crate containing 3 kinds of gourmet teas, honey, cookies and more. At INR 3500, I do find it a bit steep, but you can check the website and make your own hampers too. 
Godrej Nature's Basket also has a tea hamper that contains an assortment of gourmet teas, honey, biscuits and snacks at INR 2997. 
A lot of other gourmet foodstores like Foodhall, Nature's Basket have put together interesting hampers. You could choose from them depending on the cuisine your friends like. 
Where: Gourmetco.in | Godrej Nature's Basket

Oil Mister for the healthy cook

Source: Fabfurnish.com

If you are looking for a gift for a health food freak, take a look at this oil dispenser. You can fill in any oil of your choice and spray on the pan before cooking / baking for greasing the pan with minimal oil. At INR 417, it is a healthy deal.
Where: Fabfurnish.com

Curvy Whiskey Decanter

Source: urbandazzle.com

Have a friend who loves her/his scotch? This elegant looking decanter is just what you are looking for. The Italian brand Luigi Bormioli Spirits Decander with a capacity of 700ml (INR 990) is sure to make that expensive single malt look even better. My personal favourite on this site which I intend to gift myself are these very vintage oilers.

Where: Urbandazzle.com

Wine Gift Box

Image source: IWL

The good fellows at Indian Wine List have put together an exclusive box of 3 wines - an Italian bubbly from Veneto, a small production of Rose from Piedmont (Italy) specially made for the Indian market and a rich, smooth Syrah from Languedoc-Roussilion, France. All this for just INR 4199 for delivery in Mumbai & INR 4700 for delivery in Bangalore & Delhi, I must say it is an irresistible offer. There are only 20 boxes up for grabs, so needless to say, you gotta hurry!

Where: Indian Wine List

Breakfast in Bed

Source: Urbanladder.com

This elegant mahogany breakfast tray is the perfect way to start a lazy morning. It's a long lasting gift and the receiver will remember you fondly each time he has his morning tea and newspaper served on this tray. That it's someone else's responsibility to fill up that tray each morning, is a concern, but that shouldn't worry you. This is one gift that will be truly appreciated. At INR 2499, it's real VFM. 
Where: Urbanladder.com

Cooking Lessons

For those who love to cook, check out the websites of cooking classes, cooking studios in your city, and see if you can gift them a cooking class or an experience. Or you could allow your friend to choose a class of their choice, which is prepaid for. Classes are usually priced INR 1500 upwards.
Where: Studio Fifteen, Mumbai  | APB Cook Studio, Mumbai | Something's Cooking, Bangalore

Homemade Gourmet Gifts
What do you give someone who has everything? Put together a handmade hamper. Your special spice mix, a selection of dried herbs from your garden, a bottle of homemade pesto, 
home baked biscottis, homemade vanilla extract, liquors or preserves, a little bottle of each makes a pretty package and shows the time and effort you have gone through to put together something special. Something that comes close to homemade are these FoodTribe Binge Boxes. Put together your own Food Tribe box for INR 299/399/499.

So, what's your favourite kind of gift to receive? Spotted any interesting food related gift online? Do share!

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