Rima's 18th birthday party on 23 April 2010

Was asked if I would bake some cupcakes for Rima's 18th birthday party - similar to what I made for elder daughter's birthday way back in September 2009!! Last time the cakes were made for said daughter's party, there were plenty of little helping hands in the form of two daughters and two nieces and I did not realise how long it takes to decorate so many cakes. Five year old and eight year old fingers are terrific for the tiny decorations but this time I had to do it all by myself :O Nevertheless, 120 cupcakes in five flavours were baked in batches of twenty four.

the five flavours of the cupcakes were :

vanilla

chocolate with dark chocolate chips

coconut and cherry

pistachio and rosewater

apple with pecan nuts

I used a basic recipe for 24 cupcakes :

250 grams salted butter

250 grams self raising flour

250 grams caster sugar infused with vanilla pods

4 large eggs

4 tbsp milk

vanilla essence

Simply replaced 4 tbsp of flour with 4 tbsp of cocoa powder for the chocolate cupcakes, 100 grams of flour for 100 grams of dessicated coconut with a large handful or two of chopped glace cherries for the coconut and cherry, 100 grams of flour for 100 grams of freshly ground pistachios and the milk with rosewater for the pistachio and rosewater cupakes, and for the apple ones, just grated two large apples (Pink Lady apples because those were in the fruit bowl) and added about 100 grams of pecan nuts and subtracted the milk as the apples lent the moistness. Delicious!!!

During the evening, many little kids, and big ones too, were eyeing the cupcakes and quite a few vanished. So by the time the party finished and party bags were made and filled, the number of cupcakes too were reduced in number.

Do not possess a cupcake stand. So I guess my next 'investment' should be in a cupcake stand. Will be baking again next weekend for my nephew Sami's birthday. Different flavours as Sami loves chocolate cake and I am going to try out some cakes with my rather expensive and spur of the moment purchase of genuine green tea in Poitiers last summer (10 grams for 40 euros!!) in a fabulous tea shop. Sami is a staunch supporter of Arsenal football club at the age of six - father's influence. So red and white decorations will be the order of the day.

Bihu dinner with Gogoi family on 16 April 2010

Rongali Bihu, the Assamese festival in spring - and in a tiny village in North Yorkshire, the festive season was to be celebrated with family and friends. Elder daughter BG was home for the Easter holidays and the menu was designed around what she wanted to eat - she misses home cooking even though Trinity College, Oxford serves fabulous meals and Monday steak nights with fried camembert are not to be missed.

First time that 'karelas' - bitter gourd - have been on menu for guests. It is very much a hidden 'treasure'. The karelas were sliced very thinly, coated in a 'besan' (chickpea) batter and deep fried. Younger daughter loves karelas in this style. Was not sure how Bev and Malcolm would react to the taste. They were not quite over the moon but they did not reject the taste completely either. What is surprising is the amount of chillies this Yorkshire couple can tolerate after the last seventeen years of our cooking – the coriander and green chilli chutney was made with over twenty green chillies and they both loved it. Just making it made my eyes water.

A huge bag of potatoes ended up as potato straws. Not sure what the attraction of these freshly made 'crisps' are - normal bags of crisps lie around and nobody eats them. Make a plateful of these 'straws' and they finish within a few minutes. Had to keep hiding them from everyone so that there was enough left for sprinkling on the chicken and some to be passed around the table.

Elder daughter made the trifle. Could find none of the usual liqueurs - only some limoncello and kirsch were in the kitchen. Who drank all my liqueurs? Hmmm. So, mango pieces were macerated in kirsch before being joined by some sponge fingers drenched with passion fruit pulp and more kirsch, real custard, topped by mascarpone mixed with double cream and a final blanket of more passion fruit pulp!! It was alcoholic but delicious.

Elder daughter and Bev both love vermicelli. Bev loves it with nuts. And after twenty two years of marriage, a few months ago, husband said that he likes the milk ‘puddings’ without any nuts or raisins. Tough.

Sevian with nuts and raisins

Ingredients

50 grams salted butter

handful of cashews, pistachios and coarsely chopped almonds (quarter cup of each variety)

handful of raisins (quarter cup)

100 grams of vermicelli – sevian, broken into pieces – the longer they are, the more awkward they are to stir!

1 litre of hot milk – heated in the microwave

about half a cup of sugar

50 grams salted butter

Method

Melt about 20 grams of butter in a pan over low heat. Add the nuts and fry gently till the nuts are roasted and then take them out to drain on some paper kitchen towels. Do not fry till they get really brown – it should be a light sandy colour as the nuts continue to ‘toast’ even after they have been taken out of the pan. Throw away any remaining butter and clean the pan with a kitchen towel.

Melt the rest of the butter in the pan on a gentle heat. Add the vermicelli pieces and stir them around till they are coated in the melted butter. Continue toasting the vermicelli until they turn a few shades darker – but not the colour of chestnuts though! Do not turn up the heat.

Add the raisins and continue frying for a minute or two.

Now add the hot milk to the pan. Turn the heat to medium and let the mixture come to a boil. Add the raisins and half the nuts and continue cooking and stirring until the mixture has thickened until it is the consistency of double cream. Add sugar to taste and then add the rosewater.

Take off the heat and sprinkle with the remaining nuts.

As the mixture cools, it gets thicker. Serve warm or cold.

Do try to get the sevian - vermicelli - packet from an Indian/ Pakistani grocer. The Italian version of vermicelli is not really suitable for this dessert.

dinner with Sundaram family 9th april 2010

After many moons, we were really looking forward to home cooked south Indian food at the Sundaram residence. But the previous evening I gathered that the electric stone grinder that was normally used for grinding the rice and the daal for dosas had breathed its last and did not respond to any form of resuscitation. Disaster! But the sturdy Indian designed blender did a splendid job and we were not disappointed.

I am now allowed to make the mini dosas on the electric pancake maker. Yep, my skills in making dosas has progressed considerably - to be entrusted by a South Indian lady, Yippeee ! - one culinary mountain that I have climbed. And as the official dosa maker I got to eat them hot off the griddle. Yum yum.

Dinner that evening was :

vegetable samosas from Anand's in Leeds - real samosas made with traditional pastry

chicken kebabs

mini dosas

idlis

prawn curry

lamb curry

sambhar

coconut chutney

tomato chutney

spinach raita

followed by

Gajjar halwa (carrot halwa)

Strawberry almond roulade

Scandinavian / Swedish rosettes

Busy cooking the dosas to be eaten warm, so I missed out on taking photographs of the actual food cooked by Revathy.

That day, daughter and husband tried to get me raspberries but the shelves were devoid of raspberries!! Strawberries were all they could muster. And another disaster - two roulades were being cooked together in the oven. One was left a tad bit longer to cook as it was on a slightly lower shelf. OOOPS! a slightly overdone roulade which ended up being made into a tiered dessert instead. But as everybody ate it and clamoured for more, I guess it was not such a catastrophe after all.

Recipe for strawberry and almond roulade

Ingredients

6 large egg whites

300 grams sugar

2 tsp cornflour

1 tsp white wine vinegar

handful of flaked almonds - about 50 grams

Two trays (approx 40 cm X 30 cm X 2 cm) lined with baking parchment with an overhang

Method

• Heat the oven to 170 degrees C.

• Whisk the egg whites until the peaks are no longer soft and floppy. I use a geriatric Kenwood food mixer but a hand held whisk will probably do the job too. Add the sugar gradually whisking well between each addition until the mixture is stiff and glossy.

• Fold in the vanilla, cornflour and vinegar and mix for a few seconds.

• Spread the meringue mix on the trays and smooth out with a palette knife. Sprinkle with almonds and press some of the almonds down on to the meringue - gently. Otherwise they fall off!

• Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes. Do not let the almonds get too brown or toasted. The roulade should be crisp on the outside and soft on the inside.

• Take out the trays and let the meringue cool.

• Cut out two sheets of baking parchment just a few cm bigger than the size of the trays. Invert the meringue onto these sheets, peel off the backing baking parchment slowly.

• While the meringues are baking, chop up the strawberries. If using raspberries, just wash them.

• Whip the cream until soft peaks form - if the peaks are too hard the cream has been whipped too long and it will be difficult to spread the cream onto the meringue.

• Spread the meringue with the cream first and then scatter the strawberries or the raspberries over it. Roll up the meringue into a long sausage shape and press it down gently so that it will not unravel. Trim the sides if you really have to. Chill until ready to serve. I cut mine into two pieces diagonally as the serving dishes are normally never long enough to fit the dessert.

• Serve with a strawberry or raspberry coulis - just puree about 500 grams of the fruit, sieve to get rid of pips, add some icing sugar to taste and voila! Pure heaven. Do not be tempted to add any water or to warm up the puree - it will taste disgusting.

The disaster meringue - the almonds were beautifully toasted. Broke the meringue into three pieces and layered it with strawberries and cream. Definitely crunchy and chewy. Even the serving plate got licked clean - by the girls!!!!

Surrounded by several families in Shillong from all over India, we were exposed to the cuisine from different parts of the country. Mother had a rosette mould and rosettes featured regularly as snacks for after school while we were children in Shillong. I guess mother learnt to make this from our South Indian neighbour. I remember a version that used to be made with rice flour and without eggs as well but have not been brave enough to try it out. Mother got me the moulds I have a few years ago from a trip to India but it had been lying in a corner of a cupboard - more due to lack of time and fear of failure than anything else. Decided to evoke childhood memories and out came the mould. The South Indian version of Swedish / Scandinavian rosettes is known as Achappam and is made with rice flour and coconut milk. Next time I will try it that way - if I have a spare couple of hours and nothing else to do.

Scandinavian / Swedish rosettes

Ingredients :

1 cup plain flour

1 cup milk

2 eggs

1 tablespoon sugar

pinch of salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground cinnamon

oil for deep frying

icing sugar - about 4 tablespoons

Makes about fifty - will depend on size of mould and takes time to fry if you have the patience!

Method :

• Mix the eggs and milk together with the salt and sugar until well combined.

• Sift the ground cinnamon and the flour together in a deep bowl. Make a well in the centre, add the milk and egg mixture and use a hand held blender to mix everything thoroughly until it is smooth and no lumps remain. Refrigerate if you must.

• Meanwhile, heat some oil in a pan for deep frying - at least 3 cm deep oil. Do not let the oil get too hot - the cookies will just be burnt and the taste will be awful.

• Heat the rosette iron in the oil for a few minutes. The iron really has to be hot - otherwise, disaster will ensue.

• Dip the rosette iron into the batter without letting the top of the mould get covered by the batter. Then dip into the hot oil immediately and fry until golden. You may need to push the rosette out with a fork. Turn over and fry until both sides are golden brown - but not burnt. Drain on paper kitchen towels.

• Reheat mould and repeat the process stirring the batter every time. Life is easier if there are two moulds so that while one is being fried, one mould gets heated - not easy to manouevre though!

• Once all the rosettes are fried, sieve icing sugar over them and serve.

Husband decided that it was taking me too long to sieve the sugar on top - he simply grabbed hold of a handful of sugar and flung it over the rosettes and of course all over the worktop too. Yikes!!!

The Scandinavian / Swedish rosettes were incredibly delicate - broke into pieces even as one picked it up to take a bite. But they were all devoured - every single crumb.