FoodNetwork s Chronic Cupcake Condition & me

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1 FoodNetwork s Chronic Cupcake Condition & me Hello yummy readers! I m keeping it short and sweet today as I just wanted to share with you an article I wrote for FoodNetwork s UK website. They re doing a jam-packed e-cupcake fest for National Cupcake Week 2010 (from 13th-19th September). Check out their range of cupcake recipes online and keep a hanky handy. There s a severe risk of drooling involved. Fact. Get your cupcake pans lined and grab a big box of icing sugar. You re gonna need it this September! Food Network UK: The Chronic Cupcake Condition Saffron & Lemon Srikhand Cheesecake

2 Spill the beans. Where has the summer gone and what have you done with it? The delicious sunshine is hiding behind thick, imposing clouds. Hand me a vaporiser and I ll do away with them. Can clouds be re-vaporised? You know what my favourite way of holding on to summer with both hands is? Cheesecake. Huge wedges that are bursting with indulgent summer flavours and velvety luxury, served up with a drizzle of delicious guilt. Stop drooling, it s only a description. One of my favourite Indian desserts is srikhand (pronounced: shree-khand). It is thick, sweet and sour yoghurt blended with

3 cardamom, saffron and slivered nuts. Divine. So, why not blend my favourite flavours of srikhand with everyone s favourite cheesy dessert? Thankfully I m talking cream cheese and not cheddar. I didn t want the cheesecake to be exclusively srikhand flavoured because if I wanted pure, unadulterated srikhand, I would opt for that as a dessert instead of a cheesecake. Naturally. So I picked my favourite elements of srikhand as a dessert (sweet, sour, saffron) and whipped up a dessert to satisfy my srikhand and cheesecake cravings all in one go. I call it gluttonous wizardry. You can call me the dessert shedevil.

4 I ve used my usual baked cheesecake recipe, adapted from Kurma Dasa s Great Vegetarian Dishes. His recipe produces a mighty fine cheesecake and allows for oodles of flavour experimentation. My kind of thing. That s about a million pounds worth of saffron. Saffron is a spice collected from the saffron crocus (a flower native to Southwest Asia) and has medicinal properties as well as culinary uses. It is predominantly used in Persian, Arabic, Mediterranean and South Asian cuisines, and it imparts a heady, earthy fragrance to dishes as well as a deep yellow hue. Always use it sparingly. By weight, saffron is the most expensive spice in the world and nobody can argue over prices

5 when each crocus contains three single strands of pure saffron, handpicked by ever-patient and light-fingered saffron collectors. How many crocuses are needed for a coin sized amount of saffron? I wouldn t dare to venture a guess. Did you know? -It is alleged that the name saffron comes from the Arabic term asfar meaning yellow in colour. -Saffron crocuses only flower in mid-autumn and the stigmas and styles must be harvested quickly after their dawn bloom. Being thrown off the Spice Trail Beware of saffron copycats. For years, saffron fakes have been abundant and it really isn t easy to tell whether you ve been conned out of your pennies (or should I say pounds?) or not. Here are a few tips I always keep in mind: -Always go to a reputable dealer or spice stockist -To test if your saffron is real, soak a few strands in hot water. If yellow/orange dye comes off, leaving a white coloured strand then the saffron is bogus. This is a trick used by spice hustlers who use artificially dyed corn husk fibres to replace the delicate saffron strands. They won t have a musky aroma and will be of no use. What a mistak-er to make-er. Bin them and don t buy the same ones again. -American and Mexican saffron is not the same as genuine saffron. It is made from safflower and has the same colour and appearance, but no taste or smell. Again, a pointless purchase. -Once you find a genuine box/packet of good saffron, remember the brand and stick to it. In my opinion, Spanish La Mancha saffron is the most wonderful (unless you happen to live near a pond full of saffron crocuses and pick your own). Do you

6 think they do saffron P.Y.O s? Maybe at Lakshmi Mittal s pad. -To get the most out of your saffron, place it in a bowl and microwave it on high for seconds to lightly toast it and dry it out (be VERY careful and keep a watchful eye on it). Gently rub it through your fingers when you add it to your dish and it will release heaps of flavour and colour. Magic. I love me a bit of cheesecake staining Saffron & Lemon Srikhand Cheesecake (serves 10-12) For the base: 250g ginger nut biscuits (or graham crackers), crushed finely

7 1/3 cup melted butter For the filling: 500g ricotta cheese 500g softened cream cheese (I used original Philadelphia) 1 1/3 cups double cream 1 ½ cups granulated sugar 1/3 cup lemon juice 1 tbsp cornflour 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract 1 ½ tsp lemon zest ¼ ½ tsp saffron, toasted as directed above Method 1. Combine the crushed biscuits and melted butter and firmly pat it into the bottom of a greased 10-inch springform tin. Make sure it s even and tightly compacted. Cover this with plastic wrap and refrigerate the whole thing. 2. For the filling: in a large bowl, beat together all of the ingredients (excluding the lemon zest and saffron) until it has thickened. Kurma suggests not to overmix this. 3. Fold in the lemon zest and saffron and place the mixture on top of the chilled biscuit base. Smooth the top down. 4. Place this in a preheated oven at 160 degrees Celsius for 1 ¼ hours or until firm and golden. If you find that the top of the cheesecake is going too brown, reduce the temperature and cook for a longer period of time. 5. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Refrigerate for 8-10 hours before cutting and serving.

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9 Greek-Style Soya Beans with Dill & Honey Woah, what a week; I ve been as busy as a bumblebee at a flower festival. I can t help but feel that I should be creating more, posting more and spending less time doing other, time-consuming yet necessary things. Has anybody got a pause button I could borrow for a little while?

10 Well, I haven t been a total blog slacker this week. Honest. A couple of weeks ago one of KO Rasoi s Facebook fans requested some vegetarian Greek recipes. Can I tell you a scandalous yet unsurprising secret? I know nothing about Greek food. Shock, horror. You can start throwing rotten olives at me now. By nothing I mean everything apart from the obvious yummies the Greeks have introduced to us through their simple, flavourful cooking like moussaka, dolmades and baklava. Due to my culinary roots being embedded in the soil of Gujarat, I can t help but feel a kinship towards cultures that embrace

11 simple spicing and maximum flavour. The Greek culinary culture is definitely one of these. I ve seen numerous recipes similar to this one in books and online, and they always have slight variations on one another. By using protein-packed soya beans and delicate flavouring, I would like to offer my own take on this gorgeously Greek classic.

12 Greek-Style Soya Beans with Dill & Honey (Serves 4-6) Ingredients 2 cups soya beans, cooked 2 large onions, chopped (around 2 cups) 4 large cloves garlic, minced 3 tbsp olive oil 3 cups tinned chopped tomatoes 1 tsp chilli powder 3 tbsp concentrated tomato puree 1 tsp smoked paprika

13 2 tsp dill (I used dried) 1 cup water 2 tbsp honey Salt to taste Method 1. In a heavy based pan, heat the olive oil and add the onions and garlic. Sauté on a medium-low heat until softened and slightly golden. This will mellow out the flavours so they are not too strong. 2. Add the tomato puree and cook for a further few minutes to remove some acidity, then add the tinned tomatoes, chilli powder, smoked paprika, 1 tsp dill and the soya beans. Cook this on a low heat for 30 minutes with the lid off. 3. Add one cup of water, season with salt and add another tsp of dill and the honey. Simmer for a couple of minutes and remove from the heat. Serve with lush, thick Greek yogurt, lots of griddled pitta bread and crumbled feta cheese. Also, forgive me for my sluggishness of late. Kali Orexi! Enjoy, Greek style!

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15 Cinnamon & Orange Blossom Kataifi Rolls I m in the mood for something sweet. Not sickly sweet, but slightly sweet, nutty and deliciously crunchy. The kind of sweet that has a delicate spice and fruitiness, so much so that when you take a bite it sings through your veins. Kataifi (also known as konafi, kanafeh, kunafah and a whole range of other names in various languages) is a Middle-Eastern and Mediterranean shredded filo pastry. It is a little fiddly

16 to work with but worth every second of the time it makes to create luxurious pastries, whether they are sweet or savoury. With this one, patience is most certainly a virtue. Middle-Eastern and Mediterranean pastries are famously known for their use of nuts, spices and syrups, but the varieties of these ingredients differ from country to country, and region to region. Some of these ingredients include almonds, pistachios, rose, cinnamon, honey, fruits and sugar syrups. The list of possible combinations for pastries is endless, and they can be every bit as indulgent as your imagination dares to allow.

17 The fine threads of kataifi are massively delicate and resemble angel hair pasta which, when drizzled with golden streams of butter crisp up divinely in the heat of your oven. Syrup is poured on once the kataifi has finished baking and is still warm and able to glug up all of its sweetness and moisture. Indeed, kataifi is very versatile and provides an amazing crunch to lots of dishes. It can also be filled with savoury ingredients such as cheeses like sharp fetas or also fruits like spiced mashed avocado. It can be baked and deep fried, although when you bake it, you must agree to add lots of butter. It s wholly necessary. You ll have never tasted anything crispier. That s a promise. And I always keep my promises. Fun Fact: Palestinians made the largest kanafeh [kataifi] in an attempt to get into the book of Guinness World Records. The plate of the Palestinian delicacy measured 75 meters in length and two meters in width with a weight of 1,350 kilograms.* Sadly, they never saved a piece for me. *Source: Wikipedia, Cinnamon & Orange Blossom Kataifi Rolls (Yields pieces depending on their size) Ingredients 500g kataifi pastry (I used a Syrian brand of frozen pastry, defrosted) 250g salted butter, melted For the filling 240g ground nuts (I used a combination of equal amounts of pistachios, almonds and walnuts) 2 tsp cinnamon powder

18 60g granulated sugar For the syrup 400g sugar 360ml water 1 tsp vanilla extract 2 tsp orange blossom water Method 1. Combine all of the ingredients for the filling and set aside. 2. On a large, clean surface separate the kataifi pastry carefully until it is as thin as it will go without having large gaps in it. Make sure the strands are left whole. 3. Cut the pastry into 6X10inch rectangles and working quickly on the longest edge, butter the pastry all over with a pastry brush. Then place 2-3 tbsp of the filling in a horizontal line across the pastry an inch from the bottom. 4. Carefully and tightly roll the long edge of the pastry from the bottom, making sure the filling doesn t fall out. Place in a buttered baking tray and brush the top all over with more butter. (Note: Next time I roll the kataifi I will be using a sushi mat to get a perfect roll as the method of rolling kataifi is very similar to rolling sushi maki). 5. Repeat the above process for the rest of the pastry. Tightly pack each roll into the baking tray, one next to the other. 6. Bake the kataifi at 140 degress Celsius for around an hour. If you find it is burning then brush on more butter and bake at a lower temperature for longer.

19 7. Meanwhile, combine the sugar and water in a pan and bring to the boil. Continue to boil on a moderate heat until the syrup is of a one-string consistency (the soft ball stage on a sugar thermometer). Remove from the heat and add the vanilla and orange blossom water. Carefully swirl in the pan and set aside. 8. Once the kataifi is golden brown all over, remove from the heat and gently ladle on the warm sugar syrup. Cover the tray with a piece of foil and allow to rest and absorb for a minimum of 8-12 hours, although 24 hours would be ideal. 9. When rested and cooled, cut the pastry logs into 1 inch pieces and place on greaseproof paper. Serve with Arabic coffee (qawah) or espresso.

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