a mixed fruit cake that is the real tutti frutti cake, not with the candied and colored papaya bits...

I remember I used to like the tutti frutti (candied mixed fruits) cakes when I was a child. But then I got to know too soon that the tutti frutti bits were no fruits but just colored and candied papaya bits. And then I never had a tutti frutti cake even in my childhood after the grim discovery. I would pick and discard any colored bits that were put into foods afterwards, I remember some people used to add those candied bits into pulavs and custard trifles back then. There was an ice cream flavor by this name too. How I hated all of that. Tutti frutti in it's real form was never encountered till I made my own, that too by serendipity.

The mosaic pattern that those candied fruit brings was always fascinating. Somehow it stayed in my mind and when I started cooking on my own I found out a way to bring about that effect in my cakes.

I keep making small amounts of jams and apple or pear butter all the time. Mostly when I buy fruits in bulk and some of the leftovers get all wrinkly and sad and no one wants them as fresh fruits. Wrinkled apples and pears make nice sweet butter as their juices have already reduced. Likewise wrinkled plums also make good jam. But I am talking bout making jams, keeping them in small jars and refrigerating them till I find 3-4 or more jars pushed behind all the fresh produce. We don't eat much jam ourselves, some is gifted away and some leftovers are bottled and refrigerated as I make them with minimal sugar and no preservation. Most such jams get dehydrated while they are in the fridge and make a good chunk of fruit leather. See how chunky the apple butter gets and how I chop it and use in my cakes...

This way I have something really useful for the cakes that I bake in a hurry.

Oh I do bake cakes in hurry when someone is visiting or we have to visit someone on short notice. I just chop those jam turned fruit leathers in different flavors and colors and add it to the cake batter. Some fresh fruit is added for bringing a moist texture and the cakes are way better than that artificially colored tutti frutti.

Otherwise the cake is just a basic recipe. This time I used maida and whole wheat both in equal amounts, some fresh tart plums and a mix of these fruit leathers and preserves.

ingredients...

maida (all purpose flour) 1 cup
atta (whole wheat flour) 1 cup
chopped fresh fruit 1 cup (I used tart plums)
chopped mixed fruit leathers or jelly or dehydrated jam total 1 cup or more
eggs 4
olive oil or sunflower oil 1 scant cup
sugar 1 scant cup
buttermilk 1/4 cup or a little more
baking powder 1.5 tsp
baking soda 1/2 tsp
salt 2 pinches
I did not use any fruit or vanilla extract in this fruit as there was enough fruit to make the cake flavorful. Use good quality extracts if doing so.

procedure...

Mix the flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt together and keep side.

Line a baking dish of 9" diameter with parchment paper. Keep aside.

Mix the oil, eggs and sugar together and whip to mix. Add the chopped fresh fruit and chopped bits of dehydrated fruits/jam and preserve. Mix well.

Add the flour mix to this wet mix and fold the batter nicely with a light hand. Add the buttermilk to make the batter loose, add more if required. The batter is a little thicker than ribbon consistency.

Pour into the baking pan and bake in a preheated oven at 180 C for 50-55 minutes on middle rack. Check once after 35 minutes and place on the lower rack if the crust is browning too much.

Check with a skewer if the cake is done in the middle.

Let it cool or cut wedges when the cake is still warm. Take care if it is too hot to handle.

The slices are dotted with the colors of fruit and fruit preserves used. The taste is awesome if you like fruits. All fruit preserves and fresh fruits added impart their own flavors that remain enclosed in those tiny pockets and you get a different fruit in each bite.

The little girl who was in a mood to have a chocolate cake that day, enjoyed the brownie cake better. This cake was enjoyed by everyone else including the teenage sister of the little girl.

I gave away a large portion of this cake but the smaller portion that I kept at home for Arvind thinking he would have it over the week, he finished it having it for breakfast over two consecutive days. Such cake lovers I have around me.

This cake feels light due to oil used int he recipe, butter makes it feel heavy and the fruits don't shine that well when butter is used for fresh fruit cakes. The tart plums in this case provided a nice kick to the sweet fruit preserves used. I used a nice peach preserve that was just slivers of peaches preserved in sugar. A tart plum and black raisins preserve that I had made last summer and an apple butter leather (picture above). All these flavors were there in those small pockets and gave a different taste in each bite.

No wonder I think of cakes when I have some extra fruit at home, when I have some extra fruit preserve or some sun dried fruit too. A jar of sun dried apricots is waiting for it's turn now. All this when I myself don't enjoy cakes much.

But you know well I love playing with ingredients. Simple recipes turn into show stoppers if you just combine the flavors well.

triple lemon cakes for a kid's birthday : the kind of cakes that spread sunshine...

Yes, a triple lemon cake with lemon glaze and another triple lemon cake with quark and cream filling and frosting. And the cake frosting was decided by the kid herself. She had told me her choice of lemon 2 weeks in advance. That's how a cake like this is born. I have been in love with lemons too, another lemon cake with zucchini has been a perennial favorite, a lemon pound cake with butterscotch sauce has been missed for long. But this one just beats everything else lemony. Even the lemon tarts that I used to bake using gondhoraj lebu long back.Yes, that good.

And why triple lemon? I used the fragrant grapefruit leaves, Indian lime zest and juice (common Indian nimbu is a lime not a lemon) and zest and juice of calamondin limes. The lemon flavor gets a really nice and refreshing depth and it's just not a tart flavor that hits your palate with a zing. The depth of lemony flavors is accentuated by quark cheese and cream frosting on one of the cakes and a lemon glaze in the second. This cake will let you know limes don't make tart cakes, they make fragrant refreshing cakes with the tingling flavors and just a hint of tartness that lifts up the sweetness of a cake.

ingredients...for the cake...
(this recipe made 2 medium sized cakes)

maida (all purpose flour/white flour) 2 cups
cold pressed sunflower oil or olive oil 1 cup
(I prefer using pure oil for citrus flavors as I feel the citrus flavors blossom nicely with oil, use butter if you wish)
sugar 1 cup scantly filled (say 1 cup - 2 tbsp)
3 large eggs (or 4 small)
baking powder 1.5 tsp
baking soda 1/2 tsp
grapefruit leaves 2
Indian lime juice 1 tbsp (or lemon juice 3 tbsp)
salt 1/2 tsp
freshly zested lime peel (from whole limes)1/3 tsp zest

ingredients for the lemon glaze
lime juice 2 tbsp
water seeped with finely chopped grapefruit leaves 3 tbsp (I microwaved the water and chopped leaves in MW)
powdered sugar 1 cup

ingredients for the quark and cream frosting

*quark cheese (homemade) 1 cup
amul fresh cream 200 ml
sugar 3 tbsp and lime juice 1 tbsp ( I used 3 tbsp of the lemon glaze)

preparation...

Start with sieving the flour along with salt, baking soda and baking powder.

Start to preheat the oven at 180 C. Line the baking pans of suitable size with butter paper, no need to grease. I used 2 pans, one 7" and another 6" diameter. Keep the lines pans aside.

Finely chop the kefir lime of grapefruit leaves (or any lemon leaves you can get) and mix it with the flour. Make sure the leaves are completely dry before you roll them up and chop them in chiffonade.

Break the eggs in a deep mixing bowl, add the sugar, lime juice and zest, calamondin juice and zest and the oil and whisk till homogeneous.

Add the flour mix and fold gently till homogeneous. Pour into the pans and place both the pans into preheated  oven. On the middle rack these two cakes take 45 minutes to bake. But be careful after 40 minutes as the baking time and browning depends on your individual oven as well.

Do the skewer test and take out the cakes when done.

 Cool the cakes a bit and then invert the pans to take out the cakes. Peel off the parchment or butter paper and let the cakes cool of wire racks. If you don't have wire racks, use the atta chhanni (the sieve used for atta in every Indian home), or the perforated plate used to cover milk pan, for cooling the cakes.

One of the cakes was sliced horizontally using a large bread knife when cool. The kido wanted a sandwiched filling. She loved watching the cake being made and I loved seeing them so curious.

Let the cut halves of the cake cool completely before smearing the quark and cream frosting. I drizzled the lemon glaze mix in the cut side of these cake slices to make them taste richer.

See I used some confetti as well over the lemon frosting. The kids tasted it and declared it tastes like atta. Wow I say. Real ingredients always win. Confetti is not real. Quark and cream frosting was loved so much more than any bakery frosted cake.

Mean while make the lemon glaze and the quark and cream frosting.

For the *quark and cream frosting, just whip them both together till firm and homogeneous. Add powdered sugar and lime juice or just the lemon glaze as I did. Taste and decide how much sugar and lime you want. Keep it minimal.

For lemon glaze just mix the lime juice with sugar and mix till it looks like a thick slurry that can be poured on to the cake. I used some water seeped with grapefruit leaves too, do so if you are using the leaves.

I used the large grapefruit leaves in the base for one of the cakes. Just a crafty idea that made the kids delightful, tiny young lime leaves were used on the quark and cream frosted cake as well.

Nothing complicated, just the frosting sandwiched between the two layers, then the cake covered all over with the same and a fork run around to make a ziggly pattern. Slapped on some more frosting as the kids were feeling happy by doing so. The leftover cream was licked right away. And then the cake was cut without delay. I hurried to take a picture..

See the luscious cake inside...

The cake with lemon glaze was cut at her home. I was reported the cake didn't last even 10 minutes between 4 adults and 2 kids. Such things make us contented like nothing else.

*To make the quark cheese you just have to mix 100 ml of amul fresh cream to half a liter of full cream milk (6%), warm it and add 1/4 cup buttermilk or homemade dahi to it, mix well and leave it overnight. It gets set the next day, you would see it splits and releases some water, just pour all the contents into a cheesecloth lined sieve (placed on a bowl to drain the whey) and refrigerate the whole apparatus. The quark with will ready within 5-6 hours. Thick and creamy. I have been making fresh cheeses since long just as experimentation but Deeba uses then spectacularly, see how she makes them..

These cakes are made from scratch at home, with no special equipment for frosting or piping. Although that is not rocket science either but simplicity can be beautiful and you can always whip up something with homely ingredients. Real ingredients I would say, the way we have been using traditionally.

a date with Chef Nariyoshi Nakamura and a Japanese treat at WelcomHotel Sheraton, New Delhi ...

Japanese cuisine is a lot different from our Indian food owing to it's unique geographical position, abundance of sea food and the known penchant of the Japanese to find beauty in mundane things. I like the way they make the simple things breathtakingly beautiful. The predominant religions of japan are Shinto and Buddhism hence we see a very holistic healthy approach to the food. The presentation, assembling and even cooking techniques are such that simple ingredients are cooked in their own juices  quickly so they don't loose their raw characteristic flavor. The freshness is preserved, the flavors fresh and very much tangible. Not much mingling of complex flavors so you taste each and every ingredient in it's entirety.  The art of Ikebana says a lot about Japanese culture and food traditions. We see fresh ingredients cooked delicately and presented to please all the senses.

Every element shining well on it's own even in a bouquet of flavors.

We at CAL bloggers table had an opportunity to meet Chef Naritoshi Nakamura at WelcomHotel Sheraton, Saket about a week ago and it turned out to be an experience to cherish. He did a live cooking at the Tepenyaki grill and we also tried our hand at this huge grill with delicate pieces of tofu to be cooked.

Such a simple thing to cook and still we could see how a deft hand makes a difference in handling everything on a sophisticated grill, soft tofu and some miso sauce.

This was Miso Tofu steak being delicately grilled and then caramelised with the help of a blow torch. Spectacular is the word. That huge jar of Miso sauce is something to lust for, a secret recipe of Chef Nakamura himself.

But this Tofu steak grilling happened much after we had enjoyed an array of soy stir fried peanuts, boiled edemame, sweet and sour pickled fresh vegetables and an array of sushi. We enjoyed every single thing and nibbled on them as our chatter went on.

On the Sushi platter I liked the Tuna and smoked salmon sushi, apparently Nigiri sushi (the sticky rice covered with the fish) and the maki sushi, the Nori wrapped sushi as well but these fishy sushi wont be something I would crave for.

Quite predictably, I liked the vegetarian sushi more than the fishy ones. My love for some crunchy fresh vegetables is incorrigible. Look at that toasted sesame seeds that made the vegetarian sushi more delectable for me. This was my first vegetarian sushi and I would look forward to it again.

What I loved the most on the sushi platter was the sweet pickled ginger slices. I finished them all in between bites of wasabi laced sushi.

We tried our hand at the Chicken teriyaki grill too. Grilling it on a roller type grill was fun to look at, but taste wise it was okay, not something to write home about. The dumplings were great. Succulent and flavorful, very thin pastry and fresh true to the ingredient stuffing. We had Chicken and coriander dumplings and a vegetarian dumpling, both were really good.

 Tempura were served with dipping sauces. It was the best I have eaten till date. Succulent prawn tempura with a thin very crisp crust and some vegetable tempura for a change.

The soup was a Japanese fermented soybean (miso) soup with tofu and Nori pieces. It was a lovely light soup with distinct flavors of the seaweed.

I kept sipping on some fresh Orange juice in between.

In the main course I loved the shredded crisp Peking duck that was to be wrapped in a very thin plain pancake along with cucumber and spring onion sticks. This was a lovely creation that was well appreciated by everyone.

Mapo tofu was good, Thai style green curry was wonderful. Thai green curry mixed with that sticky fried rice was a combination made in heaven. Creamy, fresh flavors of herbs and well balanced seasoning. Perfect green curry that I would like to recreate.

And then there was a dramatic serving of a red snapper coated with a thick three flavored sauce, served aflame with the help of a blow torch. It was not just drama, the fish was wonderfully tasty, a crisp skin with soft and succulent interior, and very very flavorful.

The dessert was great too. The ever popular Darsaan with ice cream and a very nice fig pudding with toffee sauce. I could just taste them because so much food had made me dizzy by the end by it's sheer quantity too as we had tasted a lot many things, each one more flavorful than the other.

We didn't realise we spent almost four hours eating all these gorgeous dishes. I relish such evenings with my Delhi food blogger friends whenever we get time. Such warmth and such camaraderie, sharing experiences and flavors comes with the comfort level we have with each other. A treasure to cherish. The food gives us reasons to come together, chatter and forget about time.

Parul , Deeba , Ruchira , Sushmita, Mukta and Aishwarya were the Delhi bloggers friends of mine who relished a great time together.

{A la carte dinner- price for two is 3500Rs (plus taxes)}

Zanotta, the fine dining Italian Restaurant at Leela kempinski Gurgaon | a review..

All of us Delhi foodies at CAL bloggers table were invited for a review of the fine dining Italian restaurant Zanotta at Leela Kempinski Gurgaon last week. The hotel is  prime property joined to the Ambiance mall and when you travel from Delhi to that part of Gurgaon you are always unsure of how much time it will take. We were lucky this time, the day being  a Saturday and the traffic just right to reach there within half an hour.

 I reached on time and within about 15 minutes Deeba also arrived. We were welcomed into the Italian restaurant at the sixth floor, with an open kitchen and a private retro lounge overlooking the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway.

Just look at the view of the toll plaza from the restaurant.This was a particularly pleasant sight that time of the day, otherwise there is a clogging of the red tail lights at the toll plaza and a disturbing feeling for someone who drives through this stretch, as told by Shisheer Manohar, the F&B Head of Leela. A witty fellow, all smiles :-)

We were greeted by Vinay Narang , the Head of PR and communications, with a welcome drink at the retro lounge. Two sides of glass walls overlooking the expressway and pictures of Tiger eyes on the remaining walls, an interesting vibe this place has..

Wine cellars make the other dividing walls of this restaurant , the decor is very chic modern and stylish. The people manning the restaurant are great to be with, very attentive and very efficient in what they do.

In the retro lounge we were joined by Roger Wright and General Manager and Emanuel Guemonl , the Executive Chef along with Shisheer Manohar. Later the celebrity Chef Kunal Kapoor walked in and joined the discussions.

We are a talkative lot and we met a talkative lot there as well. Happy.

The people make a place special and this was no exception.

The food and wines started coming in as we settled in our chairs, Starting with Pan seared Scallops with grilled Zucchini salsa and the wine (Craggy Range, Chardonnay, New Zealand). Good textures of vegetables and Scallops, I wish it was seasoned well too or may be the dressing settles down in a narrow base of a serving bowl like that. I liked it nonetheless.

Next was the Sizillia seafood soup. This one I loved with a Mussel that was perfect on top and some shrimps, cubed fish and calamari rings into that smooth tomatoes and olives soup. This was paired with Albert Bichot Cote de Rhone, Chardonnay, France.

Next was main course, a mushroom Ravioli which was shaped like Tortellini instead but I loved what was inside. The mushrooms and the soft supple glutinous pasta is my weakness and it was done very nicely.A silky herbed tomato soup and the right amount of cheese. Perfect.
It was paired with Valpolicella 'Classico' Allegrini, Corvina Italy.

There was  little commotion after this, the servers started coming with a huge drop shaped light bulb on plates..Some gasping followed admiring looks when the Igloo like structures, lit from inside, arrived...

It was a palate cleanser, snugly perched on a seat inside this ice Igloo.

A berry sorbet, chilled and refreshing.

Spectacular till it lasted. ...

I am jealous that Deeba's Igloo had a window too. Mine had only a door :-(

Here is how we all keep chattering on the table. Chef Kunal kapoor ended up asking how long we have known each other. This is called finding the likewise vibes, not measuring friendships by the time.

The table is lively and buzzing. The Igloos glowing ..

The next main was a Zanotta special Salmon with Arugula pesto. This I was looking forward to. The fish was  lovely the pesto deficient. I wished there was a small bowl of pesto on the side. The fish remained under seasoned though it was cooked to perfection with great texture. I loved the greens that came in with it. This course was paired with Penfolds Rawson's Retreat, Cabernet Shiraz, Australia.


The dessert was a bitter chocolate semifreddo. Nice and goo. Pretty. Loved what it came with. A blueberry coulis, some candied apricots and a tiny piece of mango panacotta with candied orange peel. Bursting with flavors, just the way I like.


Fruit on a dessert plate always makes me happy, not much a chocolate person, but all these flavorful fruits complemented the biter chocolate semifreddo very well.

The pleasant interiors of this award winning restaurant Zanotta were cheerful for a large group like ours. The few other patrons were seen enjoying the food and hospitality too, a bit amused by a chattering group on a long table on the side.We spent around four hours without realising the time. Exchanged some garden produce in the end as we do many times, us bloggers, and headed back home without a pig tummy. I love such food.

Other Delhi bloggers who came together were...

Deeba of Passionate About Baking,
Rekha of My Tasty Curry,
Ruchira of The Great Cookaroo,
Parul of The Shirazine,
Charis of The Culinary Storm,
Antara of Antipasti,
Sid Khullar of Chef at Large,
Himanshu of The White Ramekin 

A pizza baking class by Chef Theo at Hilton, Mayur Vihar..

An invitation to a pizza baking masterclass is a welcome thing for anyone like me.Someone who likes baking her own pizza from scratch, learning a few tips from a master would always be wonderful.

So when we were invited for a pizza baking masterclass by Chef Theodore Rudiferia, the Italian Executive Chef at Hilton, Mayur Vihar, we all were happy to get to see how 'they' bake it. Especially an Italian Chef who has helped set up Pomodoro at Hilton, Janakpuri. I had met Chef Theo once when Chef at Large had co hosted a Burger eating competition at The Roadhouse. A handsome looking Chef with a pleasing smile and quick wit.

He introduced us to brief history of pizzas and then proceeded to bake  pizza from scratch. How pizza was known as the bread of the poor and then Chef Rafaelle created a new pizza for the queen of Italy Margherita de Savoia in the late 1800s. That pizza for the queen was garnished with tomatoes, mozzarella cheese and basil, representing the colors of the Italian flag. Pizza Margherita was born for the love of the nation. And now it is loved all over the world. The deep pan pizzas and the 'heavy loaded with toppings pizzas' might get popular with some, for me it is always the thin crust with flavorful toppings. I never order pizza, I bake them from scratch or I eat them at this Pizzeria of Banaras whenever possible. This one was started by some Italian student some two decades ago.

Well, there were a few bowls with the ingredients and some kneaded dough already proving so the pizza can be rolled out for us to see. There was a little disappointment for me being crazy about bread dough and making my hands dirty with it, but that was forgotten when Chef Theo continued with the pizza rolling, applying the sauce on it, sprinkling toppings while telling us a few tips on how to bake it perfectly. I learnt a few tricks myself about the toppings.

Look at the ingredients...

The tomato sauce as we call the Passata or the Concasse' should be freshly made using the freshest of red ripe tomatoes. This Concasse' is freezer friendly I can vouch for, having been dependent on my small portioned freezer boxes of this pizza/pasta sauce. It has been handy for many of my pizza parties in the past. A balance of flavors in the tomato sauce that is sweet, sour and acidic with a rich flavor of herbs and garlic. Look at the rich color and nicely reduced thick sauce there. That is the key to a nice topping.

I learned how the meats, seafood or even vegetables should be seasoned well and cooked well before we top them on the thin crust. I used to cook the meats and seafood but some of the vegetables were topped raw in the past. No more of that mistake again as I now know how it affects the flavors of the topping. Would love to make an Aubergine pizza next.

Nicely grilled aubergine slices taste yummy on that crust.

Chef Theo baked five types of pizzas for us. A classic Margherita, an Aubergine and bell peppers, a Zucchini, mushrooms and pickled veggies, a salami and other cold cuts and a seafood pizza with shrimps and Calamari. All of them were yummy and filling.

More fulfilling was the experience to see them being made from scratch.

Thinly rolled out pizza base, not applying too much pressure while rolling, tapping the edges before applying the sauce and topping are a few tips that make a difference.

The oven should be as hot as possible and the base should be blind baked first in case of home baking where temperatures don't go above 250 degree. The toppings should be done quickly after that and the pizza baked turns out to be slightly burnt on the edges. That is a good sign of a well done pizza. The edges should be brushed with EVOO immediately after taking out the pizza from the oven.

And yes, the topping shouldn't be too much to weigh down the crust and to prevent it's cooking. Thinner toppings, richer taste of the toppings through appropriate seasoning and quick baking on high temperature coupled with the thinnest possible crust would be my favorite pizza any day.

Egg less brownies with vanilla ice cream and Hot Chocolate sauce...

So this post is about two recipes. An egg less brownie and a hot chocolate sauce. The ice cream was store bought because I had to serve a crowd this time. Clicked a few pictures of the leftover slices of brownie topped with the black and white sinful opposites, the cold white ice cream and the dark hot chocolate sauce. Actually I served myself a generous helping as a lunch today and teased a few friends on facebook. An extempore poetry here and a few forgotten promises reminded by some other friends led me to post the recipe here.

I take this opportunity to apologise to my readers here for being absent from the blog for so long. I am back with a dark mean treat for you friends. Was busy in a family wedding and then many of the guests at the wedding were invited home for several rounds of meals and snacks and desserts and all... This brownie was served to a crowd of some 20 people, made a whole loaf of brownie , although the thin slices were not as easy to handle it was the best solution in a hurry. Made in microwave to save time so I could work on other main and side dishes that day...And the brownie was egg less because many of the older people don't even eat onion and garlic.

Brownie is better egg less I always feel anyways.

Lets cheer up at Banaras ka khana with a brownie that wrapped up a busy bustling day for me some 3 days back.... and then illuminated a noon today with a warm cheer..

ingredients...

( about 2 dozen servings)

all purpose flour (maida) 2 cups
cocoa powder 1/2 cup ( I used Cadburry's)
baking powder 1 tsp
softened butter 1 cup
thick yogurt 1cup
sugar 3/4 cup
melted dark chocolate 1 cup (I used 72% cocoa)

procedure...

Mix the all purpose flour, cocoa powder and baking powder together. I stir it with a fork, you can sieve them all together if unsure.

Whip the yogurt, butter and sugar together and then add the flour mix to it slowly while whipping all the time. The batter has to be just loose so it doesn't look like a dough and the whisk moves freely. Add a little milk if required, depends on how thick is the yogurt being used.

Now melt the dark chocolate over double boiler. i do it in microwave with a tbsp of water added to it.

Add the melted dark chocolate to the prepared batter and whisk and mix well.

Pour in a wide baking tray if making bars or squares of brownie. The batter doesn't flow well and has to be smoothened  into the tray. Bake at 180 degree C for about 20 minutes. Check with a needle before taking out of the oven.

I made a standard size loaf in the microwave as I was multitasking that day and had very little time for this brownie. The loaf was microwaved for 6 minutes on high.

Let it cool and slice accordingly. The brownies are slightly sticky , dense and decadent. I like them as it is warm too...

Served this way, they are a crowd puller.

The recipe of the chocolate sauce is quite simple too. You just need the best quality of cocoa powder you can get your hands on. I made the sauce in the microwave too , in the same jug it is served. can be easily cooked in a pan too, stirring all the while ...

ingredients for the chocolate sauce...

half cup of cocoa powder (Cadburry's was used)
quarter cup of all purpose flour
pinch of salt
half cup of sugar
1.5 cup 0f milk or water (some more to add while cooking)
1 tbsp or a little more butter

procedure...

Tip in the first four ingredients in the mug or jug (or the pan if you are cooking in a pan on gas stove). Pour about 1/4 cup of milk and make a paste of the ingredients. Now add the remaining milk and whisk vigorously to make a smooth emulsion.

Microwave the mixture for 2 miutes, take out the jug, whisk it till smooth and microwave again for a minute and whisk again. repeat doing the same some 3-4 times till the mixture bubbles and is thick and creamy.

Add a little milk if you want a dilute sauce. The thickness is variable to taste. Whisk the sauce even after it is cooked as it helps in keeping the right consistency later.

If you decide to cook the sauce in a pan, cook over direct flame stirring all the while till it thickens.Adjust thickness as above.

Add the butter to finish the sauce , off heat, and mix well. Use hot or cold, as required.


The chocolate sauce can be used with cut fruits to make a rich dessert or can be served with plain vanilla ice cream any time. It keeps well in the fridge for a week so make it in generous amount if you like it.

This sauce can be made slightly thicker too and can be used as a cake frosting or a cheats version of Chocolate Ganache. It wouldn't be as rich and silken in texture as a real Ganache made using dark chocolate and heavy cream.

Nevertheless, we all need cheats versions of the expensive foods once in a while. So why not.

The richer version of chocolate sauce would melt equal amounts of heavy cream and dark chocolate in microwave or over double boiler...chose your pick... whatever suits you.

Would you like to bake a gluten free version of a Brownie? I am working on that and will soon post it on my health food blog. 


I have also made a  facebook page for all my friends and readers who like to discuss health and wellness with me. Please go like the page if you really want to live healthy , eat healthy and think healthy...

In that case , you would chuck this version of brownie in the air.

I would be one happy soul for such a choice. Believe me. I bake such sinful indulgences only for guests who like these, my own indulgence in such treats is quite balanced most of the times.I expect everyone who follows me, to chose wisely and to control portions when served occasional treats like this brownie.

What do you chose as your foodie sin ?

pizzeria of banaras....one of the best pizzas of the world..

And I am not the only one to say that. Yummiest of pizzas , pastas and unforgettable apple pie served in the most unpretentious way. Head towards pizzeria vatika (what a nice fusion name, meaning garden of pizza :)) at Asi ghat amidst greenery and chirpy birds. You are blessed if you choose the time of sunset.

If you are fascinated by the idea of an open air eatery overlooking a beautiful river this is for you. A peaceful place to sit and relax under lush green trees of Neem and Amda , dry leaves fallen on the floor and a few flies for company. Lots of house sparrows and parrots would make an evening musical for you.

Supernatural surroundings , great ambiance , touching the soul of a city known for it's wanderer spirit. Yes I was in Banaras for almost three hectic weeks. I am glad I could squeeze some time to visit some of my favorite places around town.

This is pizzeria of Banaras offering authentic pizzas and pasta dishes . Some freshly baked cookies , challahs, cinnamon rolls, apple pies and brownies are enticingly delicious and the secret is, fresh ingredients and a wood fired oven. Can it get any better?

Displayed in a very basic looking glass window these goodies might look very ordinary but they are fresh and delicious and quite cheap when compared to big city bakeries. This pizza oven was set up by a group of enthusiastic Italian students of music who used to sit on the ghats of ganges ( assi ghat to be precise) for their musical jams.The restaurant was run by a Gopal Krishna Shukla, serving mostly to the students as assi ghat is frequented by university students all the time. So these Italian students requested this restaurant owner to let them set up a wood fired oven for a weekend and bake some pizzas for a friend's birthday party . The pizza fever caught on since then.

The owner learnt it from them and started baking pizzas on his own too and soon the pizza substituted samosas and kachoris at Asi ghat .... much before the pizza hut and dominos reached this sleepy ancient city.






This wood fired oven looks as basic as a dhaba oven , flanked by platforms on both sides and a huge pizza spatula , the inner compartment of the oven looks like a small room.

Having chosen our table, I found a bunch of these fruits dangling on the branches as I looked up to find some birds.These fruits are used to make chutneys and pickles, called amda in Hindi and probably Carribean plums in English.

While we were entertaining our niece of 2 years by making boats and rockets with pink tissue papers the pizzas arrived. We had ordered a Margarita, a Mushroom and an Onion and mushroom pizza for 4 people . These 9" thin crust pizzas were enough for 4 adults with a kid nibbling small bits too .

Well balance flavors of the toppings and a right blend of herbs . I needed a sprinkling of red chilly flakes over it but for all the others it was great as it is.

No overwhelming amount of cheese dripping and making my hands messy and tongue scalded was my point of a big plus. You can always order for extra cheese or toppings if you like it that way but for a thin crusty base with smokiness of a wood fired oven, you wouldn't like to spoil it with overwhelming cheesy flavors.

But if no amount of cheese is too much for you, go ahead and order for an extra cheese pizza. I wanted to try the aubergine pizza there but as no one else was interested in aubergine, and no way i could have finished one whole pizza by myself, so went by other's choices.

This onion and mushroom was a favorite of majority while i loved the margarita most . Unspoiled taste of a great pizza . I am actually drooling talking about it now and i know i will end up making one tomorrow or day after. Pizza dinners are very common during winters at my place (if it's not a huge bowl of soup with a home baked bread) as the oven is comforting in my tiny kitchen and the bread aroma comforts more than anything else in the world.Winters are loved for more than one reasons :)

We wanted to have a slice of apple pie too, which is also the much talked about thing there but we didn't have any scope for solids so we just had huge mugs of espresso watching the flowing Ganges beyond those palm fronds...

It's a nice place to sit if you are not bothered by a few flies here and there.
It's anyways hard to find an open air space around the lanes of any Indian city without the omnipresent houseflies , wherever there is food being served or handled i mean.

If you think beyond that, this is the place for a quite evening with friends or alone.
Many foreigners sitting alone with a book or a kulhad of chai around this place is a testimony to what i say. There are several nice book shops around this place too...a place with a good promise.
Absolutely.

apple and pumpkin spiced cake..

 I had never intended to share any baking on this blog of mine as the purpose of Banras Ka Khana is to revive all the desi traditional recipes . Time to time i am tempted to write about the odd cake or brownie the way i like them . There are millions of cake recipes on the internet and there are blogs and websites dedicated to baking . I always look up to these blogs and websites when i want to make the best chocolate cake or an angel cake . I don't wish to post those recipes here but whenever i make something unusual and am pleased by the results , i feel like sharing it here.

This cake was one such baking experiment i found worth sharing here. Just look at the different colors of fruity goodness in the slices...

ingredients...

maida ( APF ) 500 gm
eggs 6 nos.
vegetable oil 200 ml
sugar 150 gm
pumpkin grated 2 cups
apples grated or cut in small pieces 3 cups
apple sauce 1 cup
baking powder 3 tsp
baking soda 1/2 tsp
nutmeg powder 1 tsp
cinnamon powder 1tsp
dry ginger powder 2 tsp
salt 1/2 tsp


Procedure...

Mix the dry ingredients and keep aside after sieving them all together to aerate the mixture..

Pour oil a large mixing bowl , add sugar and then the eggs . Whip the mixture well till everything is homogenized . Add the applesauce and mix lightly . The applesauce i used was quite thick and i spooned it into the batter so some chunks of applesauce are there in the baked cake.

 Add the grated pumpkin and apple , mix well and then add the flour mixture and fold in lightly . Do not whip after mixing the flour mixture.

Pour the batter in greased and dusted tins and bake in preheated oven . 180 degree C for 45 minutes .

Check with the help of a skewer and cook a bit more if needed.



Cool down the cake and enjoy . The cake keeps well in the fridge and ages well too. The spices make this cake very special by the passing days ...if it lasts ...

This cake accompanied many of our teas and coffee...

I had made some muffins with the same batter in my ceramic teacups ...

And those muffins were gobbled down for breakfasts ... They were refrigerated after covering them with foil and it was easy to remove the foil and just microwave them for 30 seconds for a hearty breakfast...The husband loves sweet treats for breakfast...

I like something handy to serve... something rich , moist and sweet .

Rich sweet breakfast is not always a bad idea ... my glass of milk is hot while the husband likes it lukewarm ... but sometimes we like similar things too :)