Mango and Pineapple Sorbet

Hello! Hello! Not gonna get into the "its been horribly long' mode.. Can't end up doing that everytime. So I'm getting straight to the point. Mango and Pineapple Sorbet. We've entered a full-fledged summer here in Mumbai. It's so terribly hot and its only going to get worse in the course of the month. What better than a refreshing sorbet to beat the heat. The only good thing that comes with Indian summers is Mangoes!!  Hence, they were the obvious choice of flavour. Though still expensive, I've welcomed them with open arms. We all would. It's the king of fruits after all. Not to forget we all have our childhood summer memories linked to some juicy, juicy mangoes. You might be wondering why the pineapple bit comes in. That's because I didn't want frozen aamras (mango juice) in the name of a sorbet. The tartness of the pineapple complements the fleshy sweetness of the mango well and gives it a nice twist. Feel free to experiment with different fruit flavours!

This recipe is super easy. Barely any ingredients. I whipped it up after another stupid day at the office. Stopped by the market after work to pick up some pineapple. Found a vendor selling ready, packaged slices of the same and that was perfect for me. Cooking should be kept hassle-free and I wasn't going to waste time (or energy, honestly did not have the patience) in peeling and cutting up the fruit. So ready slices it was and I was on my way. The only thing that takes up the hours here is the freezing of the sorbet. I'd leave it overnight for best results. 


While I'm at it, let me educate you on some of the many great things about a sorbet. It's devoid of any dairy products so works great if you're lactose intolerant. Also, the absence of dairy products means its much lighter to consume. You don't have to feel guilty about reaching out for extra scoops! A sorbet also acts as a palate cleanser, especially after you've had a heavy, greasy meal. So, go ahead, make yourself and your loved ones a refreshing sorbet. Everyone deserves one in this heat ;)

Mango and Pineapple Sorbet

Ingredients:
100 gm caster sugar
Juice of 2 limes and grated zest of 1
1/2 pineapple, cut into chunks
2 mangoes cut into chunks
200 ml water


Method:

1. In a pan, mix the caster sugar, lime juice, lime zest with 200 ml water and bring to a boil. Simmer for 5-7 minutes and them cool. 
2. Add the cooled mixture to the cut up fruit and mix in a blender. Mix till completely smooth.
3. Freeze for atleast 4 hours or till firm.
4. Scoop out and serve!

Pancakes with Strawberry/Chocolate Sauce

Back! After what seems forever! Forever it is. Missed blogging. The cooking/baking didnt stop - slowed down a bit but didn't stop. The blogging did! Blame it on well, me being lazy, amongst other things. Quite the irony, to get back just when a new job takes up most of my time. But I'm not complaining. Infact I'm learning the value of time even more, now that I don't have much. Which is why I'm making a promise to myself to be around much often. To cook more, and post regularly.

I'm coming back with a star of a dish. Easy. Delicious. And soooo tempting to look at. Pancakes! Fluffy, gorgeous pancakes! Brings an instant smile to your face, doesn't it? Much like cupcakes! I guess just the word 'cake' pretty much does it. Perfect for a sunday morning! Then again, perfect for any morning. Can be teemed with the choicest of options - fruits, honey, whipped cream, chocolate, even nuts - get creative!

Pancakes with Strawberry/Chocolate Sauce

Equipment Required: 
Mixing Bowls
A Skillet

Pancakes
Yield: 6-8 (depending on size and thickness)

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons white vinegar
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• cooking spray

Toppings:

Strawberries

Nutella

Method:

1. In a medium bowl, combine milk and vinegar and set aside for about 5 mins to sour.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
3. Whisk egg and butter into the soured milk. Add the dry ingredients into the wet mixture and whisk until all lumps are gone.
4. Heat a large skillet over medium heat and coat with cooking spray/butter. Pour a ladleful of batter onto the skillet and cook till bubbles begin to appear on the surface. Flip with a spatula and cook till brown on the other side.
5. For the strawberry sauce, jus take a few handfuls of strawberries and heat over a pan till it starts to form a thick sauce like consistency. If all the strawberries aren't broken down, even better.
6. For the chocolate sauce, don't bother. Jus use Nutella. There's little need to try anything else. Else use any other topping of your heart's desire.

 

My Notes: 

• If your soured milk looks like broken curd, don worry. It's supposed to.
• You might want to skip the salt if you're using salted butter.
• You can also add any flavour essence you like, to the wet ingredients before mixing them with the dry. Crank it up a notch ;)

So that's that. Pancakes! Enjoy!!

Biscuit Joconde Imprime/ Entremet (Daring Bakers' Challenge: Jan '11)

Back to blogging after two long months! Brother's wedding preps kept me away too long. In the end, though, it was smooth, beautiful and totally worth it. And now I'm back! With renewed vigour and the January 2011 Daring Bakers' Challenge. I had a great time executing it, though it wasn't easy by any means. A big thank you to Astheroshe for making me do something, I didn't think I had the capability of doing. It's nowhere close to perfection, but I know I've tried my best.

The January 2011 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Astheroshe of the blog accro. She chose to challenge everyone to make a Biscuit Joconde Imprime to wrap around an Entremets dessert.

A Joconde Imprime (french baking term) is a decorative design baked into a light sponge cake providing an elegant finish to desserts/torts/entremets formed in ring molds.

Entremets(French baking term) - an ornate dessert with many layers of cake and pastry creams in a mold, usually served cold.

The challenge let us decide on our own fillings for the entremet. Anythin from a cheesecake, bavarian creams, mousses, jams, cookie bases, more cake, nuts, gelee etc.

I was sure I wanted to do this with berries. Strawberries, being in season, were the obvious choice. So I decided to do a light strawberry mousse and some strawberry flavoured chocolate ganache for the entremet filling. Asssembling the joconde, mousse and ganache turned out a little more complicated than I thought it would. My entremet doesnt look very neat, but for a novice I think it's turned out well. Definitely worth a try, jus do so with time on hand. Following are the recipes for the Joconde Decor Paste, Joconde Sponge, Chocolate Ganache (adapted from David Lebovitz) and Strawberry Mousse (adapted from Academia Barilla) 

Biscuit Joconde Imprime/Entremet

Equipment Required:

Silpat

1/2 baking sheets

Mixer

Bowls

Knives

Offset Spatula

Regular spatula

Pastry comb

Rulers

Springform Pan/ torte/ entremets mold/ trifle dish (for larger desserts)

Biscuit cutter/ ring mold/ cut pvc pipe (for individual desserts)

Clingwrap

Parchment paper

Gel, paste or liquid food colouring

Patterned Joconde-Décor Paste

YIELD: Two ½ size sheet pans or a 13” x 18” (33 x 46 cm) jelly roll pan

Ingredients

14 tablespoons/ 210ml/ 7oz/ 200g unsalted butter, softened

1½ cups plus1½ tablespoons/ 385ml/ 7oz/ 200g Confectioners' (icing) sugar

7 large egg whites - about 7 oz / 200g

1¾ cup/ 420ml/ 7¾ oz/ 220g cake flour

Food coloring gel, paste or liquid

COCOA Décor Paste Variation: Reduce cake flour to 6 oz / 170g. Add 2 oz/ 60 g cocoa powder. Sift the flour and cocoa powder together before adding to creamed mixture.

Method:

1. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy (use stand mixer with blade, hand held mixer, or by hand)
2. Gradually add egg whites. Beat continuously.
3. Fold in sifted flour.
4. Tint batter with coloring to desired color, if not making cocoa variation.

Joconde Sponge

YIELD: Two ½ size sheet pans or a 13” x 18” (33 x 46 cm) jelly roll pan

Ingredients:

¾ cup/ 180 ml/ 3oz/ 85g almond flour/meal - *You can also use hazelnut flour. 

½ cup plus 2 tablespoons/ 150 ml/ 2⅔ oz/ 75g confectioners' (icing) sugar

¼ cup/ 60 ml/ 1 oz/ 25g cake flour 

3 large eggs - about 5⅓ oz/ 150g

3 large egg whites - about 3 oz/ 90g

2½ teaspoons/ 12½ ml/ ⅓ oz/ 10g white granulated sugar or superfine (caster) sugar

2 tablespoons/ 30 ml/ 1oz / 30g unsalted butter, melted

Method:

1. In a clean mixing bowl whip the egg whites and white granulated sugar to firm, glossy peeks. Reserve in a separate clean bowl to use later.
2. Sift almond flour, confectioner’s sugar, cake flour. (This can be done into your dirty egg white bowl)
3. On medium speed, add the eggs a little at a time. Mix well after each addition. Mix until smooth and light.
4. Fold in one third reserved whipped egg whites to almond mixture to lighten the batter. Fold in remaining whipped egg whites. Do not over mix.
5. Fold in melted butter.

Preparing the Joconde- How to make the pattern:

1. Spread a thin even layer of décor paste approximately 1/4 inch (5 millimeter) thick onto silicone baking mat with a spatula, or flat knife. Place mat on an upside down baking sheet. The upside down sheet makes spreading easier with no lip from the pan.
2. Pattern the décor paste – Here is where you can be creative. Make horizontal /vertical lines (you can use a knife, spatula, cake/pastry comb). Squiggles with your fingers, zig zags, wood grains. Be creative whatever you have at home to make a design can be used. OR use a piping bag. Pipe letters, or polka dots, or a piped design. If you do not have a piping bag. Fill a ziplock bag and snip off corner for a homemade version of one. I used a piping bag to pipe out a checkered design for my joconde.
3. Slide the baking sheet with paste into the freezer. Freeze hard. Approx 15 minutes.
4. Remove from freezer. Quickly pour the joconde sponge batter over the design. Spread evenly to completely cover the pattern of the decor paste.
5. Bake at 475 deg. F/250 deg. C until the joconde bounces back when slightly pressed. It takes anywhere from 10-15 minutes to bake.
6. Cool. Do not leave it too long, or it gets difficult to remove from the mat.
7. Flip cooled cake on to a powdered sugared parchment paper. Remove silpat. Cake should be right side up with pattern showing.

Strawberry Mousse (adapted from Academia Barilla)

Ingredients:

500 g fresh strawberries

750 ml whipping cream

1 1/2 tbsp gelatin powder/ 1 oz gelatin sheet, bloomed

90 g confectioner's sugar

Method:

1. After cleaning and slicing the strawberries, place them in a blender and puree. Meanwhile, prepare the gelatin using a bowl of warm water and food gelatin (approx 1 oz of gelatin for 1.3 pounds of warm water).
2. While the gelatin soaks, heat 1/3 of the strawberry puree over medium heat. When it begins to simmer, add the gelatin. Allow it to completely melt and then add the rest of the puree.
3. When the strawberry mixture is done, allow it to cool down, Whip the cream and then mix it with the puree. Refrigerate for atleast a day.

Chocolate Ganache -Strawberry flavoured (adapted from David Lebovitz) 

Ingredients:

200 g chocolate (bitter, semi, sweet, white, anything you want)

1 1/2 tbsp honey/glucose syrup

10 g cream

40 g butter, unsalted

4 tbsp strawberry puree

Method:

1. Combine the honey, cream and strawberry puree in a pan and heat until it simmers.
2. Add this to the bowl of chocolate and mix till chocolate melts.
3. Once the chocolate melts, add in the butter and let that melt on it's own too. Adding the butter gives a nice sheen to the chocolate, making it look more sinful.
4. Leave in the refrigerator for a couple of hours to cool.
5. You can pass the puree through a strainer if you're looking at a smooth puree to merge into the chocolate. I didn't bother. The seed interruptions made it tastier.  

Preparing the mold:

Start with a large piece of parchment paper laid on a very flat baking sheet. Then a large piece of cling wrap over the parchment paper. Place a spring form pan ring, with the base removed, over the cling wrap and pull the cling wrap tightly up on the outside of the mold. Line the inside of the ring with a curled piece of parchment paper overlapping top edge by ½ inch. CUT the parchment paper to the TOP OF THE MOLD. It will be easier to smooth the top of the cake.

Preparing the Joconde for molding:

1. Trim the cake of any dark crispy edges. You should have a nice rectangle shape.
2. Decide how thick you want your “Joconde wrapper”. Traditionally, it is ½ the height of your mold. This is done so more layers of the plated dessert can be shown. However, you can make it the full height.
3. Once your height is measured, then you can cut the cake into equal strips, of height and length. (Use a very sharp paring knife and ruler.)
4. Make sure your strips are cut cleanly and ends are cut perfectly straight. Press the cake strips inside of the mold, decorative side facing out. Once wrapped inside the mold, overlap your ends slightly. You want your Joconde to fit very tightly pressed up to the sides of the mold. Then gently push and press the ends to meet together to make a seamless cake. The cake is very flexible so you can push it into place. You can use more than one piece to “wrap “your mold, if one cut piece is not long enough.
5. The mold is done, and ready to fill.
6. Fill up with your choice of filling and leave to cool in the refrigerator for a couple of hours before removing the springform pan and serving.

Enjoy!!

Crostata con la Crema (Daring Bakers' Challenge: November)

Finally! My first Daring Bakers' Challenge! For those of you not in the know, Daring Bakers is a forum where bakers the world over come together for a baking challenge every month. I've been dreaming of becoming one since like forever. There are jus so many things to learn from this forum since you share your own experiences and learn about other's experiences about all things baked. Also challenges are hosted by bakers from all over thus exposing you to international baking recipes and trends.

The 2010 November Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Simona of Briciole. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make pasta frolla for a crostata. She used her own experience as a source, as well as information from Pellegrino Artusi’s Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well.

A 'crostata' is basically an Italian tart dessert consisting of a sweet shortcrust pastry or 'pasta frolla' and a filling of your choice. I chose to make a pastry cream (crema pasticcera) filling, it being different from the regular fresh fruit, fruit preserves or ricotta and other fillings.

As complicated as this dessert might seem, it turned out a lot easier to do. Patience is mainly required while working on the pastry cream to prevent it from lumping. The shortcrust pastry was a breeze to work with, having done it before. It's the pastry cream that had me struggling a wee bit. But as you pull the crostata out of the oven, the whiff of gorgeousness hits you, makin it all worth it. 

The shortcrust pastry was perfect, and the pastry cream almost there. A welcome change in tart desserts. It might seem a tad dry so i suggest it's best consumed with a scoop of your favourite icecream! If I were you, I'd pick chocolate.. Delicious! 

Crostata con La Crema (Shortcrust pastry with pastry cream filling)

Serves: 5-7

Ingredients

For the shortcrust pastry:

100g / 3.5 oz superfine/caster sugar

235g / 8.25 oz unbleached all-purpose flour

115g / 4 oz cold unsalted butter

Grated zest of half a lemon

1 large egg and 1 large egg yolk, lightly beaten

A pinch of salt

For the pastry cream filling:

2 extra large eggs

65g or 1/3rd cup sugar

500 ml milk

3 strips of lemon peel, (3" long; 1/2" wide)

25g / 3 tbsp pastry/regular flour

A 9-inch fluted round tart pan with removable bottom/ cake pan/ pie plate.

Method: (For the shortcrust pastry)

1. Whisk together the sugar, flour and salt in a bowl.
2. Rub the butter into the flour using your fingertips, until the mixture has the consistency of coarse crumbs.
3. Make a well in the centre of the mounded flour and butter mixture and pour the beaten eggs into it (reserve about a teaspoon of the egg mixture for glazing purposes later on - place in the refrigerator, covered, until read to use).
4. Add the lemon zest to the flour-butter-egg mixture.
5. Use a fork to incorporate the liquid into the solid ingredients, and then use your fingertips.
6. Knead lightly just until the dough comes together into a ball.
7. Shape the dough into a flat disc and wrap in plastic wrap. Place the dough in the refrigerator and chill for atleast two hours. You can refrigerate the dough overnight.
8. Heat the oven to 375 deg F / 190 deg C.
9. Take the dough/ pasta frolla out of the fridge, unwrap it and cut away 1/4th of the dough. Reserve this dough to make the lattice top of the crostata. Refrigerate this dough while working on the tart base.
10. To help roll the crostata dough, keep the dough on top of the plastic wrap it was wrapped in. This can help rolling the dough and can also help when transferring the dough to your pan. You can also use butter/parchment paper for this. The dough can also be rolled directly on a work surface if preferred.
11. Lightly dust the top of the dough and your work surface (if you’re rolling directly on a work surface) with flour. Keep some flour handy to dust the dough as you go along.
12. If the dough is very firm, start by pressing the dough with the rolling pin from the middle to each end, moving the rolling pin by a pin's width each time; turn the dough 180 degrees and repeat; when it softens, start rolling.
13. Roll the dough into a circle about 1/8th inch (3 mm) thick.
14. If you used the plastic wrap or parchment paper as rolling surface, flip dough over the pan, centering it, and delicately press it all around so the corners are well covered. Peel away the plastic wrap.
15. Trim the excess dough hanging over the edges of the pan. Press the remaining dough around the border into the sides of the pan making sure the border is an even thickness all the way around.
16. Prick the bottom of the dough with a fork in several places.
17. Take out of the fridge the reserved pasta frolla you had cut away earlier. Roll it with your pin and cut into strips or use cookie cutters to make small shapes (this is not traditional, but it looks cute); or roll with your hands into ropes.
18. Spread the pastry cream evenly over the bottom of the crostata.
19. Use the prepared strips or rolls of dough to make a lattice over the surface, or decorate with the cut shapes.
20. Brush the border and strips of dough with the reserved beaten eggs. You can add a drop or two of water to the beaten eggs if you don’t have enough liquid.
21. Put the tart in the oven and bake for 25 minutes.
22. After 25 minutes, check the tart and continue baking until the tart is of a nice golden hue. (Note: Every oven is different.)
23. When done, remove the tart from the oven and let cool. If you have used a tart pan with a removable bottom, then release the tart base from the fluted tart ring. Make sure the tart is completely cool before slicing and serving.

Method: (For the pastry cream/ crema pasticcera)

1. Pour the milk into a pan, add the lemon peel and warm up to to well below boiling point. 
2. In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs with the sugar until the mixture is bubbly. 
3. Sift the flour over the egg mixture and beat briefly until it is incorporated. 
4. Temper the egg mixture with a small quantity of milk, then slowly add the rest of the milk, mixing with a wooden spoon. 
5. Pour the mixture into the pan and set it to very low heat, stirring at least every couple of minutes. When the froth on the surface disappears completely, the crema starts to feel slightly thicker. From then on stir almost continuously. When the crema reaches boiling temperature and thickens, cook briefly (1-2 minutes), then remove the pan from the heat, remove the lemon peel, place the saucepan in a cold water bath, and stir thecrema to bring down its temperature. While the crema cools down, stir it every now and then to prevent the formation of a film over it.

Enjoy!!

Chocolate Cupcakes

Cupcakes! I'm just realising I've never said the word like an adult.. Never! It's always accompanied with childish glee and that sense of playfulness. To me, cupcakes signify fun, laughter and all things nice and colourful. Not to mention that excitement you sense while baking them, since you're dying to see the end result. 

Contrary to popular belief, they're quite simple to make. Not very time-consuming either. And totally worth all the effort. I decided to make chocolate cupcakes and I fished them out of my latest possession, The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook. This book is one of the many goodies I received from an extremely dear person, Thanks RB! I hear this bakery in London makes the most legendary cupcakes, so I knew I had to give it a try. Still have the 14 other cupcake recipes to try!

This recipe uses a devil's food cake for it's chocolate base. The cocoa powder gives the sponge a dark and chocolatey kick. But the most fun element is the frosting bit. You could make a million combinations with the frosting in every possible colour and a myriad of cupcake sprinkles. I whipped up some cream cheese frosting, which by the way tastes swell! You could also do a chocolate frosting, if you're a chocolate maniac. Cream cheese was just more exciting.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
 Makes 12

Ingredients:
100g / 3.5 oz plain flour
20g / 0.70 oz cocoa powder
140g / 5 oz caster sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
A pinch of salt
40g / 1.4 oz unsalted butter, at room temperature
120 ml whole milk
1 egg
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Frosting: (Should suffice about 15 cupcakes)
300g / 10.5 oz icing sugar, sifted
50g / 1.7 oz unsalted butter, at room temperature
125g / 4.4 oz cream cheese, cold


A 12-hole cupcake tray, lined with paper cases

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 170 deg. C/325 deg. F
2. Sift the flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder and add to it the sugar, salt and butter. Use a handheld mixer and beat on slow speed until you get a sandy consistency and everything is well combined.
3. Whisk the milk, egg and vanilla extract together in a bowl. Then slowly pour half of it in the flour mixture, beat to combine and turn the mixer upto high speed to get rid of any lumps.
4. Turn the mixer down to a slower speed and slowly pour in the remaining milk mixture. Continue mixing for a couple more minutes until the mixture is smooth. Don't overmix.
5. Spoon the mixture into the paper cases until two-thirds full and bake in the pre-heated over for 20-25 minutes, or until the sponge bounces back when touched. A skewer/knife inserted should come out clean. Leave the cupcakes to cool in the tray before turning them out onto a wire rack to cool completely (bless the microwave stand!).
6. When the cupcakes are cold, spoon the frosting on top and decorate with cupcake sprinkles.

For the frosting: 

1. Beat the icing sugar and butter using a handheld electric whisk on medium-slow speed until the mixture comes together and is well mixed.
2. Add the cream cheese in one go and beat it until it's completely incorporated. Continue beating until the mixture is light and fluffy, atleast 5 minutes. Don not overbeat as it can become runny.

My Notes:

• Use only Philadelphia Cream Cheese. It's a sin to use anything else. 
• Make sure you don't spoon more than two-thirds of the batter into the paper cases or the cupcake will flow out.
• Do not overbeat the cupcake mixture, as the sponge will be too heavy.
• If you don't find unsalted butter, regular butter will do. In that case, skip the pinch of salt.
• The richer your cocoa powder, the richer your cupcake! Use Belgian cocoa powder, if you can lay your hands on some.

Som Tam (Green Papaya Salad)

Pronounced as: Som (as in from Som-nath); Taam.

After a little sweet, comes a little salty! All the calories from the brownie, make you want to look at a healthier option for your next dish. I came across this salad a while back, and developed a liking for it immediately. It was healthy and tasty (in a healthy sort of way), and I just had to try this at home. So I marched off, to one of the bigger vegetable markets near home, and got myself a fresh green papaya. Now, they're not the best smelling things, nor the cleanest. But when you devour the final outcome, it's all worth it.

This green papaya salad comes in like a thousand versions, really. Some have added garlic, kidney beans, cucumber, french beans and on and on. You may pick whichever you like. I am more than comfortable with the ingredients I've mentioned below. Easily available ingredients is what makes a dish more fun to make. No point getting stressed about it, honestly. 

I served it at a family get-together at home, and I'm not bragging here, but by the end of it, the bowl was clean! Everyone loved it! It definitely is a welcome change from the crap we sometimes end up eating in the name of salad. This salad keeps finding it's way to my dining table thanks to a beloved friend who keeps the papayas coming in. Anytime, you've overstuffed yourself at lunchtime and want a very light dinner, a bowl-ful of this salad is just perfect. I love mine chilled!!

Som Tam (Green Papaya Salad)

Ingredients:

1 green papaya (you may take half if it's very big)

1/2 cup roasted peanuts and/or cashews, (plain roasted or honey-roasted)

1-2 cups bean sprouts

1-2 tomatoes cut into thin, long strips, deseeded

1 thai red chilli/regular dry chilli, minced (deseed it, if you want a milder salad)

3 spring onions, sliced long

1/2 cup fresh basil (tulsi leaves)/mint roughly chopped

Handful of fresh coriander, chopped

Dressing:

2 tbsp oil, preferrably olive

3 tbsp soy sauce

3 tbsp lime juice

1 tbsp honey

1 tbsp brown sugar (optional)

1 tsp ground bean paste (if you can find it, else optional) 

Method:

1. Mix all your dressing ingredients together. Use a little less honey if your peanuts/cashews are honey roasted, else it tends to taste a wee bit sweeter. Make sure your honey is well dissolved in the dressing. Mix really well.
2. Peel the green papaya. While peeling make sure you remove every visible green well since that outer periphery tends to be bitter. Let a thicker layer be peeled off. Cut into half, then cut into long pieces and grate. Place in a big bowl.
3. Add to it sliced tomato, spring onions, chilli, bean sprouts and most of the basil/mint. 
4. Add the dressing and toss well.
5. Add the peanuts and/or cashews. You may leave them whole or chopped. Toss again. 
6. Taste the salad. Adjust chilli for a spicier palate, honey for sweeter or lemon juice for that extra zing. Ideally the above quantities suffice.
7. Serve in individual bowls or on a serving platter. Garnish with remainin basil/mint and fresh coriander.

My Notes:

• If you want you can keep the salad ready beforehand: Combine all ingredients except nuts and dressing and leave it in the refrigerator covered for several hours or overnight. Jus add the nuts and the dressing at the last minute. Toss and serve.
• If using brown sugar, reduce honey quantity to 3/4th tbsp. 
• Scrub the papaya clean with your hands before peeling. Knowing our beloved country, God knows how many dirt areas it's traveled and dropped in your hands!
• You need a lot of sweetness for this salad, in order to balance out the sharpness of the papaya and the lime juice. The dressing should taste sweet along with being spicy, sour and salty.

Snickers Brownies

What better way to start off an exciting blog venture with a recipe of something chocolatey and rich! Brownies! I wasn't prepared to make a cake immediately, so, to me brownies sounded just perfect. And what better chocolate to pick then the very delicious Snickers! You could pick any of your favourite chocolates, really. Maybe a Mars, Galaxy, Hersheys or even Toblerone. If I were you, I'd give wafer biscuit chocolates a miss. As much as i adore them, they're just not brownie material. Of course dark chocolate would be your best bet! Those heavenly pieces from Godiva or Ghirardelli...Mmmm..Need I say more?

My pick was Snickers, simply for the range of flavours it provides. Chocolate, nougat, caramel and peanuts together can hardly ever go wrong. And the result? An impeccable brownie, well-crusted on the outside with a soft, gooey inside. The intermittent bits of peanuts do a world of good!

                                    

Snickers Brownies

Serves: That honestly depends. Could serve even 1! But ideally 5-6.

Ingredients:

3 bars Snickers chocolate (59g each) 

                  or 

200g / 7.05 oz dark chocolate/any else you prefer

100g / 3.5 oz butter (preferably unsalted) 

60g flour (maida), sifted(passed through a sieve) 

3 eggs

100g sugar (you could use 125g if you enjoy it a tad sweet)

icing sugar/cocoa powder, to dust

A 7-inch square baking tray, ideally

(I used an 8-inch, as available)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 160 deg.C/ 320 deg. F
2. Mix the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water (do not let the base    of the bowl touch the water). Keep stirring so as to not let the peanuts stick to the bottom. Leave until melted and smooth and set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, take the eggs and sugar and whisk thoroughly till you reach a frothy consistency. Add the sifted flour and fold in gently. Make sure your batter is well mixed before proceeding.
4. Stir in the melted chocolate-butter mixture until smooth.
5. Line your baking pan with parchment/butter paper and spoon in your batter. Bake for about 20 minutes. Check by inserting a thin knife/skewer. If it come's out clean, your done. If not, let it sit a minute or two longer in the oven.
6. Remove from the oven and pull out using the parchment/butter paper. Place on a cooling rack and let cool completely (I use my microwave stand as a cooling rack. Works for me!).
7. Dust with icing sugar/cocoa powder, cut into pieces and serve.

My Notes:

• Never melt chocolate directly over the stove. NEVER.
• If using milk chocolate, stick to 100g of sugar or the brownies turn out a little too sweet.
• Use a hand-mixer if possible, saves a whole lot of effort.
• Do not overcook the brownie, or the edges tend to get hard and too crunchy.
• The default way of eating leftover brownie is to heat it, most people will say so. But try a cold piece right out of the refrigerator. It's how I love it and it sure tastes as divine if not more!