Meet the bakers - Ankita Saxena Sinha

Mummalicious - now even the sound of it is so delicious and droolworthy, don't you think!

Meet Ankita of Mummalicious - vegan, sugar-free, egg-less, alcohol - you name it, it's available here.

Excerpts:

D: Have you started retailing yet? Would you like to do that in future?
A: Not at the moment but Oh yes, I will retail in the next 2-3 years. I should have gotten the necessary skills by then.

D: How's HBG and the showcase helping you?
A: HBG has given me a platform for both sorting out problems by asking other fellow bakers and also an appreciative and cheering audience. Its tough to imagine how I would have progressed without HBG. Thanks again to Bala and Nanditha for this platform.

D: What's your specialty?
A: Cupcakes & decorations are my USP. Trust me when I say that I have started serious baking less than a year ago. (Now that's hard to believe, ain't it?)

D: Where do you source your ingredients from?
A: I generally get it from Bangalore and Delhi, especially the sprinklers, liners etc. The accessories and decorative stuff come from the US or the UK.

D: What do you plan to bring for us on 1st?
A: I am planning to bring cake, a few cupcakes (vegan cupcake, one hot surprise and at least 2 more varieties) cheesecakes & savories (cheese & bacon savories). With a 2-year old daughter most of my baking is accomplished only when she is sleeping, i.e. between 11pm and 6am. So starting from an ambitious plan of several things I am not yet sure how much I will be able to finally make.

When I asked her what exactly got her into baking, this is what Ankitha had to say - My journey onto cake decoration started with an incident I witnessed at 2nd birthday party of a dear friend's son. They had ordered a really beautiful and expensive farm themed fondant cake. While the cake was really beautiful and tasty the fondant covering was rubbery and weird in taste. So all guests were removing this fondant as if it was a wrapper and eating the cake. This started my quest for perfecting edible decorations – which are both delicious and beautiful.

Good luck Ankitha and see you on Saturday!

Dieter's Delight - Stuffed Zucchini

Yeah, it's the same zucchini I'd picked from Gormei Market last weekend and it was wilting away in the fridge. I wanted to make some salad with it, and found a recipe too, but the sudden craving for upma last night pushed this to the background.

And this morning, as I was sipping the coffee, I saw Cheryl's post on HBG about making bread using the pressure cooker. I was looking through the website and then found this cute little zucchini recipe and I knew what I should do for dinner.

So here's how this is made. I made some alterations from the original.

Slice the zucchini into thick pieces (about 4 cm tall, I made them taller, my bad!) and scoop out the innards, leaving some at the bottom to serve as the base. Finely chop some beans and carrots. Add some olive oil in the cooker, add the minced garlic, zuzzhini innards, carrots and beans and cook well. (Alternatively you can cook this in the microwave, which is what I did).

Stuff the mixture in the zucchini.

Meantime, finely chop an onion and tomato. Add some olive oil in the pressure cooker, add the onion, tomato, some basil leaves and half cup of water. Cook for a couple of minutes. If you have a steamer, place that in the cooker, arrange the stuffed zucchini in that. If not, pour the onion tomato mixture along with the water inside a pan, and arrange the zucchini in that. (The idea is for the zucchini to absorb the flavor of the reduction). Add half cup water inside the pressure cooker. (You don't need to do this if you use a steamer). Cook on high pressure for about 5 minutes (without whistle. I did 3, and felt that this needed a little more cooking. That said, I loved the texture of the zucchini at 3 mins, crunchy yet soft. On second thoughts, may be one or two whistles could have done the trick)

Transfer to a plate and have fun! (Psst: I also did crumble some low fat feta cheese over it)

Recipe Source: http://www.hippressurecooking.com/2010/08/stuffed-zucchini-on-tomato-bed.html

Meet the bakers - Heena Awasthi

On today's feature, we meet someone who always likes to do it sweet, Heena Awasthi. (Interestingly, or should I say ironically, her page also features a recipe for garam masala ;-) ) Heena has been trying her hand at baking for about 5 years now. (This is perhaps the shortest blog ever, Heena answering my questions crisp and to the point :-))

Excerpts:


D:  Do you retail yet? What are your future plans?
HA: No, not yet. But if opportunity comes I might like to give it try. As of now my hands are full with orders, baking & cooking classes.

D: How is HBG and the showcase helping you, as a home baker?
HA: I must start by thanking Bala for creating such a beautiful platform, where bakers and loads of amateur bakers share their work and queries. There is so much to learn on HBG. This showcase will surely provide us a larger audience and more visibilty.

D: What's your speciality?
HA: I specialize in egg-less bakes, mousse cakes, Fresh fruit Gateau, Chocolate based Tarts & Cakes and fondant toppers.

D: What's your theme for this showcase?
HA: I plan to bring some Ferrero Rocher Cake, assorted pack of tartlets. The rest is a surprise.

D: Where do you source your ingredients from?
HA: I source them from wholesalers in Delhi and Bangalore

Heena wishes to have her own garden kitchen some day, with all the fancy gadgets! (Let me know when you get that done, would so love to see that, knowing I can never have one of my own). She also wants to undergo professional training to add new dimensions to her skills. (Do we see a future Cordon Bleu student here?)


Good luck Heena and May all your dreams come true. See you at the showcase!

Dieter's Delight - Broccoli all the way!

Tonight's dinner - courtesy Gormei Market - Yeah I'd picked up the broccoli when I was there for the Easy cooking workshop by Sara Koshy :) It was an exhausting day at work and with the wretched traffic, I made it home really late.

So tonight's dinner is an amazingly easy to make soup and salad, with minimal ingredients.

The soup recipe is by Gordon Ramsay (Sunil - I made the soup finally and you may now call me D Gordon Iyer :-) )

Add bite sized pieces of broccoli in salted boiling water, and let cook until tender. (Pierce a knife through it and you'll know). Transfer the broccoli to a blender. Add the stock (about half the quantity) and blend well. Taste, and season as required. And yay, we are done. Drizzle a little olive oil and while you eat the soup, here's how you make the salad.

I'd read this recipe a few years ago and have been making it quite often. Perhaps my most favorite broccoli salad. Boil broccoli as above, except, let it be a tad crunchy. Finely chop garlic and ginger. Saute in high heat for under 2 minutes, until the aroma is released. Add the broccoli & a little salt, and stir fry for a minute or two until the garlic and ginger blend well with the broccoli. For the dressing, in about 3 tsp of sesame oil, add about 8 drops of soy sauce, mix well and drizzle over the salad. Toss well and serve.

Meet the bakers - Charmaine Saldanha

A freelance corporate communications specialist for large MNCs, mother of 2 teenagers, craft specialist, a baker (for about 30 years now), meet the charming Charmaine Saldanha

Excerpts

D: Where do you showcase your goodies?
CS: I put everything up on my FB page - charmaine.saldanha.  I do this business from home, with a friend of mine, Louella Sequeira.
 
D: I saw those little ivory buds you'd made. How did you ship them to Australia?
CS: The rose buds were for a bride in Australia.  Her mother was making the cake and had made ivory roses and orange lillies and they needed ivory rose buds as fillers.  The bride and her mother were on a brief visit to Bangalore as this is where they lived till 12 years ago.  They carried the rose buds back with them.

D: What do you specialize in?  
CS: My specialty is my Rich Plum Cake.  This is made with my grandmother's recipe - so this is a third generation recipe!  The fruit is all cut by hand and the cakes are baked at home - 4 at a time.  This year I plan to make 500 cakes.  Friends who live in the US and UK get their friends to carry back cakes for them, so every year about 10 cakes go overseas.  In addition I get regular orders from people in Mumbai and Delhi and Blue Dart carries the cakes.


We have a wide array of baked goods as well as other stuff.  I make wine too and in fact am currently trying to promote wine and sandwich spread hampers that people can gift - rather than the usual bouquet of flowers or bar of chocolate -  especially when they are invited out for a meal. I have an array of 5 low-cal sandwich spreads in addition to other spreads and plan to launch flavoured butters soon.


D: How is HBG and the showcase helping you as a home baker?  
CS: HBG is giving me a wider audience for my goodies.  It is also turning out to be a wonderful, generous forum on which bakers are sharing tips and knowhow.  I hope it stays that way.

D: Where do you source your ingredients from?  
CS: My USP for most of my goods is good, wholesome, homemade food, reasonably priced and so I dont use too many exotic ingredients.  I source my ingredients and packaging from wholesalers.  I make things in small quantities to preserve the quality.

Charmaine says that her mother is an adventurous baker who relies more on smell and taste than following a recipe, while she tends to follow a recipe a little more, though instinct plays a large role.  

She just finished making a string lampshade, to replace a Warli lamp shade that she'd made a couple of years ago.  Her previous craft project was to make a patchwork bedspread using material left over from the cotton kurtas she'd made for herself over the years. She stitches some of her own clothes as well. (Do you take orders on these craft projects? I might be interested :-) )

Her daughter, Nina, seems to have a talent for needlework and has now developed quite an interest in baking.  Her son, Nikhil, too is very happy to experiment in the kitchen.

So the trio spends quite some happy moments in the kitchen.

Look forward to seeing you at the showcase! Cheers!

Masterclass with Sarah Koshy

As CFG continues to innovate and provide more workshops, especially after the super success of The Great Biriyani Workout Cookout, the easy cooking with Sara Koshy was more than welcome. This workshop, in association with one of my favorite stores in Chennai, Gormei Market, turned out to be exactly as I thought it would be.

If you are a big fan of Masterchef Australia, and have drooled over Masterclass and the unlimited pantry,  then, Sarah's class is a must. Limited participants, unlimited pantry and a class chef who is patient to enough answer the queries, live cooking, tasting sessions and interactions with other participants - it was absolutely worthy of a Saturday afternoon.

A three-course easy-to-cook menu was on the cards - cream of mushroom soup, fresh vegetable salad and pasta.

Sarah explained the process of making the soup and we all gathered around to take a peek into the saucepan. The soup was done in about 25 minutes, it was poured into small cups for us to taste. The milk that was used for the soup is organic cow's milk, and has a shelf life of 2-3 days (if frozen). This is procured from Erode, as Sriram explained, and is completely pure and non-pasteurized. After the milk is extracted from the cow, it is directly packed and shipped. This has to be boiled before consumption. Bhoomi milk is priced at Rs 28, for a 500 ml pack.

Next on course was the pasta. The vegetables were cut and ready for use. Pasta was poured into boiling water, and a learning here was to not add oil when the pasta is cooking. Sarah says the sauce wouldn't stick on to the pasta if oil is added. And the 8-10 min al-dente time starts not when the pasta is dumped into the pot, but when the water is in a rolling-boil mode.

Simultaneously the salad was getting ready; Fresh cut vegetables & lettuce leaves drying between layers of tissues were inviting. As Sarah said, do not chop the lettuce with a knife, because it tends to cut all the cells and turn it black. Gently tear it off with your hands. Salad dressing was made with apple cider vinegar, mustard and some olive oil.

As usual, the dishes were set in bowls so the shutter-bugs could satisfy their photo-craving and before the tummy started growling, the plates were passed around.

A great session, some good learning & tasting and not to mention the shopping post the class - all part of a bigger plan I say :-)

This is one class that you should not miss. Keep watching the space at CFG for announcements.

Update: Here's the video of the event (copyright - CFG, shot by Mohamed Ali)

Dieter's Delight - Mushroom Mint Salad

It has been a crazy day; How else would you term a day when the carpenter is on full swing, cutting, sawing and drilling, and you can barely enter the house without being showered with sawdust! So yes, I was getting some shelves fixed and that's a 2 day job! Sigh

It was past 8 pm by the time these guys left, and I was hungry. There was a sly temptation to order out - a million thoughts running through my mind - Dominoes is right next door! Or should I call Mast Kalandar (they are 2 km away), or should I call Yo Potato or may be a peta wrap!

And then, I could hear the mind's mocking laugh! To shut it up and not feel guilty, decided to rustle up something quick!

The mushrooms should be used by today, so I chopped them up, set them on the pan, on low heat, along with some lemon juice and salt. Cook covered for about 10 minutes. Let cool and drain the water.

Meantime, finely chop a handful of mint and some coriander. Roughly chop some cucumber. Deseed tomato and roughly chop that too. Toss everything together; add some yoghurt, and we are done :-)

And this is the new entrant in my kitchen - magnetic knife holder :-). (Thanks to S, it sure matches the color of the decor)