Nigella's Banana Cake...

She's the Goddess... Her Recipes are outstanding... She never lets me down... She makes me the party pleaser...

This recipe is Nigellas Banana Loaf... And its outstanding.. I made it two hours back... and nothing remains...

Ingredients

100g sultanas

75ml Rum ( I used Old Monk thanks to JJ)

175g plain flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

125g unsalted butter, Softened

175g sugar

2 large eggs

3 very ripe bananas (about 300g weighed without skin), mashed

60g chopped walnuts

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 teaspoon Cinnamon powder ( Please powder them at the moment, packaged powder is just crap.)

Recipe

> Put the sultanas and rum in a small lil saucepan and bring to the boil. Try your level best to let the quantity of the Rum remain the same... ;) 

> Remove from the heat, cover and leave aside till required. The sultanas will absorb most of the rum... If not... No.. u don get a treat... that goes into the cake too...

> Preheat the oven to 170ºC and get started on the rest. 


> Sieve the flour, baking powder, bicarb, cinnamon and salt in a medium-sized bowl, combine well.


> In a large bowl, mix the softened butter and sugar and beat until blended and Light n Frothy. 


> Beat in the eggs one at a time, then the mashed bananas. Then, with your wooden spoon, stir in the walnuts, sultanas and the extra rum and vanilla extract. 


> Add the flour mixture, a third at a time, stirring well after each bit. Scrape into the cake tin and bake for about an hour. I divided the entire mixture into two cake tins.


> When it's ready, an inserted toothpick should come out clean maybe with a few crumbs.

> Leave in the tin on a rack to cool.


Outstandingly soft... crumbly and heavenly....


Goes into the " Must Bake"...

Banana Muffins: Over Ripe Pleasure...

Love the way we cooks just find a way to make everything useful. Nothing is worth wasting and everything has a destiny. Just like my over ripe bananas just had to become Banana Muffins. Destiny.


Muffins : Bite sized cakes. Easy to pick. Really fast in the oven. And I kinda like it more than a cake cause its got more of an Edge to it... ;) Pun Intended.


The aroma of a muffin being baked in the oven is one of the simple and divine pleasures of life. A home can never be more inviting.

Dusted with sugar, with the perfect crack, with a walnut peeking from within and a sultana just ready to drop off, wrapped in colorful paper cups. How can anyone not gorge. Yes after the admiration is over, which usually doesn't last long.

Usually muffins are considered breakfast or tea time snacks. But trust me when I say :"Who Cares".

The Ingredients are as simple as it can get.

For the Muffin (Makes 12)

2 Eggs

125 ml Refined Vegetable Oil

150 gms Castor Sugar/ Grain Sugar

250 gms Refined Flour

1 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Baking Soda/ Soda bi Carbonate

3 Super Ripe Bananas

75 gms Mixed Walnuts & Sultanas

For the Sauce

100 ml Fresh Cream

3 heaped tsp Icing Sugar

2 pinches of Cinnamon Powder

2 squirts of Caramel Sauce ( or more, cause I like more)

Lets get our hands Dirty now...

Preheat the Oven to 200 degree Celsius and line the Muffin moulds with paper cups.

Whisk up the Wet Ingredients, i.e.The Eggs ----- The Sugar----- The Oil

Whisk em up till they are pale light and frothy.

On the other side mash up the Bananas. I like to keep them a little roughly done. Keeps the muffin more exciting with surprises within.

Sieve together the dry Ingredients, i.e.
The Flour---- The Baking Powder---- The Baking Soda

Pour in the Wet Ingredients and the mashed Bananas onto the Dry and whisk it together.

Add in the nuts and the Sultanas.

Use an Ice cream scooper and fill in the cups with the batter a lil less than three fourths.

Bake in the pre heated oven for about 15 to 20 mins.

Keep a watch, the muffins will rise and caramelize on top quicker. Once you achieve the color you desire remove and check whether its done.

Insert a satay stick right in the centre of the crack, way till the end and remove. If it comes out clean with just a few crumbs attached... its perfect.

If it comes out moist with a lil batter on it, give it just another few mins and check again.

Once done, leave it to cool for like ten mins on a wire rack and then dust it with Icing sugar...  what bliss..

They are perfect as it is, and a bite will take you to Banana pleasure.

Well I know you can't improve on perfection... But what the Heck.. y not ???


So whisk together all the ingredients of the sauce on an ice bed ( basically fill a bowl with ice and place your bowl of sauce ingredients on it) till it thickens a bit..


Pour this Mmmmm so fabulous sauce all over your moist and oh so wonderful Muffin and just, just Enjoy.

Its just sooo Fabulous.

When The Salad made the Day...

Baking and cooking everyday can really lead you to excessive Gorging. And I can vouch for that. So as to compensate M and I decided to get a Salad happening... Not so exciting you say... ;) Was outstanding I say.

Well the addition of the Grilled Feta to the greens did the trick.

To make a complete meal out of the salad addition of protein is a must and that's all I did. Well a salad is usually just three components: the greens, the dressings and the oomph... So...

Greens:

I prefer using two third Iceberg: coz that's the one that tastes the crunchiest and the freshest and the rest is a lil bit of Lollo rosso and Frisee... for the subtle bitterness and color.

Dressing

3 tbsp Olive oil

1 tbsp Lemon Juice

Salt and Freshly Ground Pepper to taste

Mint Leaves 10-12 lvs

Feta 1 tsp

Tip all of these into an empty jar. Screw it on and shake it up till combined... As easy as it gets.

OOMPH....

Well with this salad Feta was the choice.

Marination : olive oil and chili flakes

Cut the Feta into rectangular slices 2 inches thick an brush the marinade on both sides.

Heat a non stick frying pan well and place the marinated Feta at convenient distances. Flip after a minute very carefully and heat the other side for a minute too. A beautiful grilled exter

ior and gooey creamy center awaits.

Toss the greens with the dressing and place the grilled Feta on top right before serving.

Awesome was the call...

Semi Freddo... Sophisticated rich and Blissful..

The last restaurant I visited had this extraordinary dessert. And I went there thrice in the last 5 days just to satisfy my sweet tooth.

The I realized why not make it myself. The world is getting a lil expensive you know...

So its called Semi Freddo. Literally meaning Half Cold. Well I guess that's because its half way on route to making an Ice cream. Not frozen like an ice cream, so u can actually taste it rather than just have that frozen tongue. Not as stiff as a mousse that u can cut and eat it. More like a softee I would say.

Its creamy, smooth, rich and just melts in the mouth. Well one dollop in that restaurant was an enough inspiration for me to make some....

Ingredients

2 Eggs

115 gm Powdered Sugar

1 Vanilla Bean

100 gm White Chocolate

230 gm Double Cream

• Separate the egg yolks and the white. Make sure at the bowl in which u take out the whites in has no moisture else it will not whip up.
• Whisk together the yolks, sugar and the vanilla bean extract.
• Melt the white chocolate in a double boiler with 1 tbsp cream add at it to the above mixture.
• Whisk up rest of the Double cream separately and whisk the two mixtures together.
• Beat the egg whites till they achieve a hard peak ( beat it up such that when the bowl is upturned the whisked egg white doesnt fall) and fold it into the previous mixture.
• Divide this into 6 martini glasses or goblets or whiskey glasses as I did.
• Keep in the refrigerator overnight and serve dusted with cocoa.

Creamy smooth Indulgence. So Worth the immense amount of whisking and cleaning up.

Mmmmmmmmm.....

Cheesy Roasted Pimento Pie

Okay... Now that this is a food blog, a little technicality wont hurt anyone... So lets introduce the simplest of the techniques. Making of the Short Crust Pastry. Well this is the easiest to bake, and variants are innumerable.

As this blog develops and you read on, all will realise that i'm a crazy cheese indulgent. The other day my shopping cart had 6 varieties of cheese- cheddar, feta, parmesan, processed, smoked and ricotta. And the cashier gave me a very stunned stare. As if I care. :-)

This is like my most loved recipe, its like comfort food and just one slice of this pie is like the ultimate happiness guaranteed... Sloth would be the sin.

Ingredients ( Serves 6 )

For the Short Crust Pastry

125 gms Flour
55 gms cold Cubed Unsalted Butter
3-4 tbsp chilled Water
Salt to taste

For the Stuffing

3 tsp Olive oil
2 cloves garlic sliced
1 tbsp granular sugar
1 tsp red chilli powder
3 medium sized Bell peppers
1 large onion
3 large tomatoes
50 gms tomato puree
10-15 Fresh basil lvs
200 gms Matured cheddar Cheese
Salt and Freshly ground Black Pepper to taste

Method

Short Crust Pastry

» Seive the flour into a bowl. Rub the cubed butter and flour together using just your fingers so as to get a mixture resembling bread crumbs.

»Add the salt and water and bring the entire mixture together to form a dough. But donot knead it, only bring it together.
»Wrap it up in a cling film and place in the fridge to chill for half an hour.
»After the rest, roll the dough 1" thick and line a 10" pie dish. Fill it up with beans, brush the edges with egg wash and bake in a 180 degree celsius preheated oven till slightly golden brown.

For the Stuffing

» Remove the seeds of the peppers and cut into 4 peices. Toss in a lil olive oil, salt and chilli flakes.

» Roast in a 180 degree celsius oven till charred.
»In a shallow pan, add the sugar to the oil and heat on low flame. Once the sugar caramelizes and turns slightly red add the garlic and the onions and saute till translucent. Add the salt and chilli powder.
»Add the fine chopped tomatoes and saute till the oil seperates out. Now add the tomato puree and saute till the raw taste of the tomatoes is no longer present.
»Chop up the roasted peppers and add to this mixture.
»Add half the amount of cheese and the basil lvs. The cheese would help to bind the mixture together. Allow to cool.

» Once cooled add this mixture into the blind baked pie. Top it up with the remaining grated cheese and bake in the same oven temperature till the cheese turns golden brown and the edges brown well.
» Slice into 6 wedges and serve warm.

Served best with a dollop if Sour Cream. Having more than one slice would just be pure indulgence.

Repeats guaranteed.

Couscous with a desi twist...

Proving the point once again, hunger creates recipes.Bored of the regular food fare at home, M and me decided to do a twist... Thanks to my shopoholism ( which comes into play only in Gourmet food stores) M's kitchen store is stacked with excessively unrequired grub. Well it is fun at times.

So out came the couscous. Now wats that? Well they say its a kind of a pasta, semolina/ sooji morsels. Wats fabulous about it is that it takes exactly two mins to make. Its quite a staple in the Middle East and a fabulous accompaniment to Curries and Stews.

Ingredients(Serves 2)

200 gms Couscous

1 tbsp Olive oil

20 gms Chopped Onion

1 Clove Garlic Minced

1 Nos Bell Peppers Fine Diced

20 gms Sweet corn

1/2 tsp Chilli Flakes

5-10 Basil Leaves

Salt and Freshly Ground Black Pepper to taste

2 tsp Lemon juice

Parmesan ( only for cheese lovers like me)

Method

• Scatter the couscous onto a flat plain plate or vessel. Just cover with boiling salted water, and allow to soak for 10mins till the granules soak up all the water and double in size. Add more water if required. Once done fluff it up with a fork just as you would do to boiled rice.
• In a shallow pan, saute the minced garlic and the onion till translucent, and then add the diced peppers and corn and saute on high heat.
• Add the couscous and toss with the seasonings and finish with torn pieces of basil.
• Remove from heat and add the lemon juice and toss.
• Grate some Parmesan on top of the hot Couscous to melt and get the desired mmmmmmmmm...

Served best with a slice of toasted bread...

Banoffeeeeeeee...

There are a few things in life that we honestly agree that we've grown up eating... Those who've lived in farms and orchards, remember them as apples from the trees, mangoes from the groves, or fresh fishes from the lake...

But for people like us who've lived in this Godforsaken city most of their life,things are a little different.

Packaged, tinned, canned and frozen food is wat comes to mind first. I agree they aint the best one would want, but i don mind it. Be it the incorrigible Maggi or "lets just eat it as it is" Bournvita. But then when one such thing gets turned into a gourmet delight, life is bliss.

Banoffee=banana+toffee+pie.. Three things worth the glutton.

And the best part being Toffee= Molten Milkmaid.... Mmmmmmmmmmm

Ingredients

1 tin Milkmaid
1 pack Digestive biscuits
100 gms salted butter( just love the salt and sweet combo)
3 large ripe Bananas
Whipped cream and choco nibs for the garnish

Method

» Place the unopened can of milkmaid in a vessel filled with water, enough to cover the tin completely. Simmer covered on a low flame for 2.5 hours (yeah u read it right). Making sure the water level doesnt drop by constantly refilling.

» Meanwhile, line the base of a 20 cm round sprinform tin with aluminium foil. Crush the digestive biscuits with a rolling pin and mix in the melted butter. Combine together well and press this mixture down onto the base of the tin to form the pies base. Refrigerate this for half an hour.
» Once the 2.5 hr long wait is over, remove the tin and run it under cold water and let it rest for atleast 5 mins before u open it. Not listening to my advice may result to a major health hazard like a blast ( excessive pressure u see).

» Now spread the blissful, sinful, molten goodness obtained onto the biscuit base. U might have to use a hot water dipped spatula tp do so.
» Top this up with a nice arrangement of sliced bananas all over.
» And for the ones ready to dare, blob it up with whipped cream and sprinkle a few choco nibs.

Served best with..... Trust me you need nothing with this.. Its pure SIN...