Soup for the Soul

It’s snowing today and it’s so beautiful outside with frosted green lawns and an unhurried snowfall, it’s almost heartbreaking.

So today I feel like a warm comforting soup.. I feel like my butternut squash soup. Butternut squash is a cousin of our Indian pumpkin, it’s in season in winter and a classic winter warmer. I have tried many butternut squash soup recipes but I like mine the best. And it’s ludicrously simple to make.

I sauté an onion with one garlic clove and one dried red chilli. Once onions are translucent, I put in chopped butternut squash (I keep the skins, they are healthy I am told) and a chopped sweet red pepper. I give it a vicious stir, add some water, chuck in a cube of vegetable stock, cover it and let it happily simmer on medium heat till I can crush the butternut squash with a fork. Once cooked, I blend the whole thing with my hand blender, add a wee bit of milk (to make it a little creamy), season it (salt, pepper), simmer it for another 30 seconds and it’s done! Then depending on my mood I garnish it.. with coriander or croutons or cheese. Today I feel like some crispy bacon!

So steady drizzle of white outside, cosy home, pajamas and winter socks, cheesy movie, warm butternut squash soup with crispy bacon & warm bread rolls with English butter. Can’t wait!

Alice in Christmasland

Coming from a maharashtrian family, we never really celebrated Christmas beyond keeping an old sock by the pillow on the night of Christmas eve and waking up to the excitement of a Christmas present. But now, as I experience Christmas in all it’s glory in London, I feel a little like Alice in wonderland. Be it those bewitching display windows or the endless stacks of chrsitmas puds in Marks & Spencer or the festive lights at every nook and corner or the beautifully wrapped Christmas gifts which scream ‘grab me!’, I can’t help but feel the festive cheer.

And what a delight it is for a foodie like me. Christmas would be unthinkable without the food. I asked my boss, what her family actually does during Christmas and she said, ‘Hmm.. we eat!’. And I don’t think she meant it to be a joke. Because soon after our neighbours invited us to a Christmas dinner and to my bemused astonishment handed us a 5 course laminated menu two months in advance. Why? Just so that we are comfortable with everything on the menu. It made me think what a sharp chaotic contrast the diwali party at my home was!

But yes, Christmas is an absolute foodie joy ride and the Christmas markets are a good start. Nearly a month before Christmas, Christmas markets come alive all over Europe and it feels as if they are right out of Santa’s village. We happened to be in Prague last Christmas and visited the big Christmas market in the square. A huge Christmas tree against the backdrop of a beautiful cathedral.. quaint little stalls.. beautiful local handicrafts… veerrrryyy cold.. warm mulled wine.. piping hot bramboraks (Czech potato pancakes).. children playing in the square.. horse carriages.. just perfect.

Now the next best thing is the Christmas cake. What is exciting about it is the way it is made. It is a rich, spiced fruit cake, made 3-4 months before Christmas. Then every week it is drizzled with some brandy, so that it stays moist and ‘matures’ by Christmas. I am told a good Christmas cake will keep for 3-4 years! I found this quite unbelievable at first. So I guess to stop me from blabbering away my views, my host offered me a slice and I was so lost munching moodily on that piece of aromatic drunkenness that nothing else mattered. Sigh!

But not everyone makes this fab cake. Those who don’t, make the Christmas pudding. This is a simpler cousin of the Christmas cake and instead of being baked, it is steamed for a good 4-5 hours before it is served with say, brandy butter.

Over the years, I have learnt several interesting traditions around the Christmas pudding but the one that I find most interesting is the custom of putting charms.. like small coins, rings etc. in the pudding batter before it is baked. The charm means something for the person who finds it while eating the pud. So if someone finds a coin, it means prosperity, if someone finds a ring, it means wedding bells and so on. Now funnily enough there is an exact same custom among Maharashtrians where we put coins in ‘modaks’ which are served at the time of Ganesh puja and whoever finds a coin is destined to have a prosperous year ahead. Isn’t it a weird coincidence that such different cultures should have similar culinary customs?

Finally, the ultimate Christmas feast - the traditional roast turkey. It’s a big delicious meal – the stuffed roast turkey with fragrant gravy, red red cranberry chutney, chipolatas (bacon covered sausages), honeyed carrots and parsnips (or some other veggies), glorious golden roast potatoes.. and all this with a glass of good wine or champagne.

I have decided I must know how to make a perfect roast.. it’s too bad if I live in this country and don’t know this! So I have bought myself a big Christmas cookbook and I have set myself the challenge of the following meal to honour Christmas and my husband’s birthday –
Maple glazed roast chicken with fragrant brown gravy
Chipolatas
Red red cranberry chutney
Honey glazed carrots and
Golden roast potatoes (crisp on the outside and soft inside).
And for dessert, a slight traditional twist.. Christmas pudding ice cream!

Care to join us for dinner anyone? Merry Christmas either way!

Ande ka Funda

Last week I baked a cake called the ‘Fraisier’ for a friend’s birthday. It a French strawberries and cream cake which French patissiers normally start baking in early spring when strawberries are in season. And if you ask me why this is such a typically French cake, it’s probably because strawberries were first cultivated in France, in Brittany to be specific.

There were two things which quite struck me about this cake.

Firstly, the cake is a strawberries and cream cake with not an iota of cream in it! I found that quite surprising and would never have imagined had I not read the recipe. The cream instead was made from italian meringue base, custard and loads of butter.. in true French style! :)

Secondly, the sponge used in the recipe was Genoese sponge. What that means is the sponge base is made by whisking eggs and sugar together (and then adding rest of the ingredients, no butter!) than by creaming butter and sugar first (followed by adding rest of the ingredients eggs, flour, flavourings etc.) Now this funda of whisking eggs and sugar together is basically Italian.. may be even Genoese and may be that’s where the name comes from.. Genoa in Italy. So what’s Geonese sponge doing in a traditional French recipe?

May be because France and Italy are neighbours and eons ago it may have all been the same province or may be the Romans got it to France when they reigned supreme. Who knows?! But I can tell you it’s a magnificent cake, befitting an occasion.

Now coming back to this Italian funda of whisking eggs and sugar together. The output is a dessert by itself or a dessert sauce called zabaglione in Italy or Sabayon in Latin America (and may be even France). What is intriguing is what happens to eggs or egg whites when they are whisked for a loooong time.. say 15 minutes. They magically expand 3-4 times their original volume due to air being trapped within, similar to how foam is formed when detergent is added to water. And this particular scientific principle is an open secret of cake baking and many other desserts like meringues.

So if you are in the mood, try this simple but versatile Italian dessert sauce. Whisk eggs and sugar over simmering water for 3-4 minutes and then keep whisking without the simmering water underneath for another 12-15 minutes. The whole mixture will increase in volume some 3-4 times and becomes thick and creamy and light and fluffy. And that’s it, it’s done! You can add any flavouring to it.. a couple of tablespoons of any sweet wine like Marcella or Prosecco or add any liquor or simple plain vanilla. Once cool serve with cake or fruit or anything else that catches your fancy. I like to serve pears or figs with sabayon & bitter chocolate shavings.. yum yum!

Bake India Bake

Ever since i moved to London three years back, i have developed a hobby which is dangerously lurking on the threshold of becoming a profession. I am an HR professional by day and an avid cook and patissier by night. My objective is to become a professional patissier and chocolatier in due course and start my own little venture when i go back to India.

So now is the time to acquire the skills, knowledge and the experience. A recently published book, my loving and supportive husband tells me, says one needs to invest nearly 10,000 hours in their profession to achieve excellance in their field. It makes me think of Michael Jackson, The Beatles, Michaelangelo, Lata Mangeshkar, R D Burman, Amitabh Bachchan, Amartya Sen, Michel Roux.. well they have all put in their 10,000 hours and more, haven't they?

So that's what i am going to do as well. Feels like a long haul when i think about it, but honestly i am not counting when i am baking. I am so busy whisking, piping, smelling and most importantly tasting.. that i don't know where those long hours fly away.

Onzi (my husband) comes home and asks me what's for dinner and i say, "Cake?!".