Day 02 - Christmas and Food Chronicles in Kolkata - Bakar Khani and Aztec Drinking Chocolate

Kolkata is pleasantly chilly. So the day began well when the Dhakai Bakarkhani (ঢাকাই বাকরখানী ) wala came a calling for breakfast...

Dhakai Bakarkhani (ঢাকাই বাকরখানী )

Baba makes a divine pound cake for Christmas and the morning was made perfect when I got to taste the first slice of the cakes.

Christmas Cake... Pound cake by Baba

The day went on and we had egg curry and vegetable curry for lunch

শীমের সবজি 

ডিমের তরকারি (Egg Curry)

Then the day turned so much better once I met Neil and got my fix of Dagoba Authentic and Mariebelle Aztec Hot Chocolate.

God bless Neil and Aru for bearing gifts from the fair city of New York :D

South American single source Hot Chocolate...

The evening turned night and after meeting batch mates from school (few after some 20 years), I got taken to Some Place Else. 

Good live music and expensive daru later the day turned to the next ...

Some Place Else..

শুভ রাত্রি 

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...

Chocolate Ganache...

Now that I'd a crack at the basic foam cake, I wanted to try out some frosting to make it nice and happy...
All I needed was some chocolate (I took 250gm left over Morde) and some of the thick cream (300gm) to get the goo going ..

So I went out and hunted out Punjab and Sind Dairy (a little Tweeting and some help from Titin did the trick :) ). They sell some amazing, heavy cream.
While the chocolate went for some chop chop...

The cream went into the saucepan for a quick low flame boil...

Just when the cream threatened to boil over, I cut the heat and sloshed in the chocolate shards.

It took a fair bit of stirring as the cream started melting the chocolate...

And voila! The rich (very tempting) pool of chocolate was glinting at me.

I took a cocoa foam cake that I'd baked an hour ahead and sliced it into two. 

I then poured and spread some of the ganache. I did this in stages of pouring and spreading since if I just poured, the ganache (still very warm and liquid) would just soak in...

...and sprinkled some walnut bits to make things interesting

The top slice quickly went on and then it was time to pour (the now solidifying) ganache on top of the cake...

A little tap here and there got the bubbles out as much as possible.

I slapped on some halved almonds to add some visual appeal and also create a 'boundary' for the slices to be cut.

And I was done... 
The entire cake now went into the fridge for an hour for the chocolate to cool and get all gooey. 

Chocolate Sponge - The Foam Cake Quest begins...

I'd already tried the standard ritual of making a plain sponge cake to test the oven when it first came in. So I decided to add a little bit more by adding cocoa to the standard ingredients when I wanted to make the foam cake 'series'.

As a part of my new drive to reduce waste, I have started recycling aluminum foil at least once (if it is not soiled). So I re-used washed and dried used aluminum foil to line the baking tins. 

I started by sieving in half a cup of flour with a quarter cup of cocoa, and ½ tsp baking powder along with ¼ tsp Baking Soda.

I pulsed ½ cup demerara sugar in the grinder to make it more powdery.

Next I separated three yolks and added a whole egg into a mixing bowl.

I whipped the yolks with half the sugar till they almost tripled in volume.

Next I gently sieved in the flour and cocoa mixture and folded everything in taking care not to deflate the foam too much.

This done, I washed the whipping blades, dried them and then whipped the three egg whites with the remaining sugar as well, till they were stiff and I could hold them upside down without dripping.

I folded this in as well and then scooped up the batter into the tins. I added a cucumber and melon seeds to add a little bit of crunch on top and then baked the cakes for about 25 min.

Once done I peeled off the lining and let them cool before slicing it up to take for Subha, Harini, and Peter's 'shop warming' party. :)

Ingredients:
½ cup Plain Flour
¼ cup Cocoa Powder (unsweetened)
½ cup Demerara Sugar
½ tsp Baking Powder
¼ tsp Baking Soda 
4 Eggs