Desperate Cupcakes...

Photo credit - http://onlyhdwallpapers.com

Mrudula and Srini's anniversary is a day away and she wanted to make cup cakes because Srini loves them. (Aside...Srini loves most things edible and just about vegetarian). So...

Now. Mrudula bakes in her mom's oven. This is an aluminium round contraption that was born when an electric heater met a largish tin can. A constraint if want to make lot of cupcakes.

After writing her a longish mail to 'help', I realized that it will make for a good read for a whole lot of people. Of course the references are Mumbai (Andheri) centric but that can be easily overcome. So.. here goes.

First I asked her to have a look at http://www.cupcakerecipes.com/ and then I wrote...

"You can (and perhaps will) waste a lot of time looking for recipes and stuff. Here is what I would do:

• Divide the effort estimate into two parts:
1. The cup cake
• I am assuming you have the baking tins for muffins/cupcakes. If you don't:
• Borrow them from me along with the liners today
• Buy them from Arif Le Mould (Get out of Andheri West station at the end of the road that passes by the McDonalds . Please buy normal liners. The fancy liners look pretty when you buy everyone ignores them when wolfing the cup cake down and you are not going to have a photo-shoot... So...
• Please go buy three Betty Crocker instant cake mixes (Suggest 1 chocolate, 1 vanilla or something like that, 1 pineapple cake or something).
  Suggest you don't experiment with the Indian cake mixes. They make drier cakes and are slightly less tolerant to mistakes than Betty Crocker.
  With these:
• It is easy to divide into half or quarter
• Just crack an egg and add some oil and you are done with the batter
• The other easy recipe is to have a 1:1:1 ratio of butter/oil, egg, and flour, add sugar, a pinch of salt and a little baking powder. Mix the solids together and then the liquids/butter separately. Sieve the solids into the mixed liquids and you are ready to bake :)
  Short-cut tip - If you add mashed banana into this, you get banana cup cake :)
  
2. The cup cake decoration:
1. Buy. Don't make as far as possible, since you have a small oven and part of a day:
• I believe people eat cupcakes since they look pretty. So so and buy multiple colours of ready made icing. They squeeze out from tubes like tooth paste, cost quite a bit and save enormous amounts of time
• Buy a can of 'spray-on' whipping cream or a pack of Blue-bird instant cream
2. If really want to make from scratch make a chocolate ganache and dunk cupcake tops into it and put sprinkles or stuff on it.
   This explains how to make it...
   http://eatbhaieat.blogspot.in/2011/04/chocolate-ganache.html
3. Here are some decoration ideas:
• Put whipped cream on top of the cup cakes and:
• Add a couple of pink or other coloured marshmallows on top
• Add a tinned or fresh fruit like cherries, orange bits, banana, pineapple etc.  The fruit crunch and citric element balances the flavours and texture of the cake
• Coloured icing from the tubes I wrote about earlier
• Want to really get the taste-buds go bonkers? Top with canapés (e.g. Monaco biscuit with a lump of cheese etc.)"

It sounds a bit domineering but then...

The pre-Diwali office pot-luck...

I've always landed up in offices where people love to eat... IETS has been no exception. The gang from the BKC office has transported their urge to eat all things nice to the Saki Naka second office untarnished and if anything enhanced :)

Sharp at 1 I got a call from Ophi summoning me to the second floor for the lunch...

The alluring part for me about this feast was the fact that almost everything was home-made...

The spread on the table started with Farrari Patties. Now this is something that is had during उपवास/upwas, so it came with a bowl of smooth and sweetened whipped dahi...

Farrari Patties

The term farrari relates to all things that are used during upwas. The potato enclosed and deep fried roundels themselves had a yummy filling of flaky hand grated coconut shavings with an interesting blend of fresh shredded herbs.

Inside the Farrari Patties...

The staples like chappatis and rice were bought to save the trouble for everyone...

To go with the rice Rajesh's wife had made a very nice and homely Sindhi Kadi (सिन्धी कढ़ी) 

Rupa had brought some Undiu--the quintessential touch of Gujarat. Awesome to eat, nightmarish in terms of logistics to make...

Aishwarya made and got a light and fragrant pulao (पुलाव)

A fragrant pulao

... and to go with it, a light and interesting mixed vegetable curry...

Shobha introduced the flavour of the Southern reaches of India with Idlies and Mulaga Podi (also know as Gun Powder, Sambhar, and some awesome coconut chutney. 

Idly

Mulaga Podi aka Gun Powder

Gingelly Oil

Idly, Gun Powder (Mulaga Podi), in Sambhar

Awesome coconut chutney

I'd contributed a simple Bengali style Methi phorondiyey Phulkopi aar Palngshaker Torkari (মেথী  ফোড়ন দিয়ে ফুলকপি আর পালক শাকের তরকারি)  (Palak and Cauliflower Curry) ... Most of which was devoured by the time I landed up to click a photo for posterity... So I am guessing it was liked :)

মেথী  ফোড়ন দিয়ে ফুলকপি আর পালক শাকের তরকারি  (Palak and Cauliflower Curry)

After the spread was done, I moved on to the sweet bit. Ophi had made her hugely popular (and trademark :P) Mangalorean Coconut Cake

Ophi's Mangalorean Coconut Cake

A piece of Ophi's Coconut Cake

Sujyothi and Beni contributed and got some yummy Kesar Jalebis

A box full of Jalebis

Jalebi

The to end the desert section, Abhijit and Venkat enleashed tubs of Fruit Salad with Ice-cream from Aditi

Of course good things in combination taste divine... So I dolloped some of the fruit salad with some coconut cake to make things happier still :)

Combo of Fruit salad, ice cream and Ophi's Coconut Cake...

Meghalaya Smoke-cured Pork Salad with Honey Whiskey Cider Vinegar Dressing

Mary returned from Shillong after an extended 'sojourn' and back brought goodies... Whee!
One of the things that got me all excited was the smoked pork and beef that she got back from home. Resisting the temptation to gobble up the entire (and meagre) stock of the exquisite meat was (and is) difficult. 

A growling stomach reminded me to keep is simple and quick while I tried to decide what to make myself from brunch so I pulled out the first good looking bell pepper from the fridge and tossed, washed and the cleaned the cherry tomatoes that I got from Dadar.

The yellow bell pepper adds a little Warhol to the mix...

A fistful of cherry tomatoes..

 The broccoli beckoned from the crisper and was quickly distributed into crisp little morsels that would do well to contrast both the colour and the texture. Pottery class has resulted in a surfeit of bowls and one of them was quickly pressed into service to do a quick 2 minute nuke of the broccoli florets while I got the other things in place...

Broccoli Florets

 The smoke pork wafted out from the freezer and filled the kitchen with a heavenly aroma as I broke off a bit and chopped them into small morsels...

Smoked pork from Meghalaya...

I wanted a dressing that would be balanced with a little warmth so I pulled out a little whiskey and got the apple cider vinegar (from Himachal) and some glorious honey from the Pune apiculture institute... A teaspoon of each went into a shot glass and whisked with a dash of olive was all ready to make my Sunday happy :) 

Honey, Whiskey and a little Cider Vinegar for the dressing

All ready to pour some goodness...

 The pepper quickly got chopped into little pieces and tossed into my salad vessel...

Yellow bell pepper pieces

Next, in went a fistful of cherry tomatoes to add some sunshine and burst into happiness when I bit into the brunch...

Cherry tomatoes to the mix...

The steaming warm and yet still crunchy enough broccoli came out from the microwave and quickly joined the mix

Microwave quick steamed broccoli 

A warm layer of broccoli...

The pieces of meat went in after this...

Add the smoked pork shreds...

... a sprinkle of salt, a splash of the dressing and brunch was ready...

Mangalorean Macaroons

I have come to associate macaroons with a certain difficult to make European confectionery. The internet brought with it waves of information about how and what to do to make these in myriad hues, all resplendent with perfect little 'feet' and exotic stuffing. The delicate little things yield in the mouth and dissolve in a burst of crunchy-yet-sticky sugaryness.

Life however was simpler when I was a kid. The biscuit-walla would come to the door balancing a black trunk on his head and the macaroons of my childhood emerged as crunchy little white and pink delights.

Like all things that the Indian sub-continent has touched, the macaroon too has felt the indelible touch. 

The Mangalorean Macaroon is a good example. 

Mangalorean Macaroon

'Feet' on a Macaroon from Mangalore

I was introduced to this (rather addictive) variant of the macaroon when Patricia (aka Pat) or Oliver brought them back from Mangalore after they'd returned from a visit to their home and families there.

Cashew nuts within a Mangalorean Macaroon

While the  essence of the macaroon (egg whites beaten stiff with sugar) remain the same, the Mangalorean Macaroon has chopped cashew bits in them, and more often than not has an elaichi (cardamom) flavour to mask the smell from the egg rather than the bog standard synthetic vanilla.

When you bite into these, they have a hard crust that cracks and crumbles unlike the standard macaroons that are delicate and small. These ones are sized a little larger than a golf ball and has a delightful surprise as cashew nuts hidden in them once you've bitten a little of it off!

Here is a recipe from a fellow blogger...

Don't forget to try one of these :D

Fried Bitter Gourd (Karela) ... A variation (করোলা ভাজা, টক নোনতা)

It was the Sunday before Eid and I was not really looking forward to dragging myself to office when the rest of Mumbai seemed to be jubilant about an extended weekend. Ek Tha Tiger at Paradise was to be the Sunday evening excitement with Peter, Sumit and Doyal.

Since Doyal would be coming all the way to Mahim from Bhandup, it was only fitting that I cook a meal for her to save her the hassle of making lunch before landing up.

I ducked into the fridge and realized that Karela was among the vegetable du jour (since I'd struck a deal with the veggie vendor  earlier on Saturday).

Washed well, the seeds quickly got removed out and discarded...

I sliced the karela/করলা and then quartered them into little bits

Next I added salt (and later a little water to soak the bits) 

I drained the salt water after half and hour and gave a bits a squeeze before heating a couple of table spoons of oil in the non-stick and tossing the lot it. The salt seeps into the karela and negates part of the bitterness and enhances the flavour as well.

I wanted an alternative to deep frying (since I wanted the karela nice and crisp), so I put the  flame on sim and slowly let the karela bits crisp. 

I constantly tossed the bits around so that they are uniformly browned.  Just before they are done, they start to look browned like this...

Once done, I set the crispy and already-interesting-tasting karela bits aside..

While they bits were frying, I took an onion and a couple of tomatoes

The onions, I cut up into slivers and the tomatoes into small slices. I also took a half inch piece of ginger and ground it in the pestle and mortar.

 

Next came the old favourite, paanch phoron...

I splashed a little mustard oil (সর্ষের তেল) and put in the paanch phoron and ginger to sputter and release the heavenly aroma..

Next, the onion slivers joined the phorni (ফোড়ন or फोड़नी)... 

Once the onions were a little 'glassy', the tomatoes went in as well...

Dhania Powder

I added a little dhania powder (ধনের গুড়ো) to the mix and slow cooked them for a few minutes...

Once, all this was well assimilated, I added a little amchur (আমচুর/आम्चुर or dried raw mango powder). This was intended to add a curious little tang and negate the remaining bitterness of the karela.

Then of course the pre-fried bits got added and I quickly moved the mix around in the pan to coat the karela bits with the mixture, taking care that the crispness remained as far as possible.

A few seconds later I was done with the fried karela start to the meal...