Anand is a dear friend, super talented designer, voracious reader and a hedonist cook. Sometimes we have late night Facebook chats on mascarpone cheese, lady fingers and his crush on Ree Drummond. On one such late night chat Anand mentioned wanting to make Spotted Dick. My initial reaction was to giggle and call him a pervert. But he was serious and I was obviously unaware of the existence of this steamed pudding with dry fruits. It even has a Wikipedia page of its own. Very intriguing.
So after a fluster of facebook chats, messages, and Gchats between Anand, Lahar (my other designer friend who runs these fabulous tree walks) and me- we decided upon a fantastic Sunday lunch menu that Anand graciously decided to host and cook. Of course, Lahar and I were just very curious about spotted dick.
So armed with my camera and its lenses, a bottle of wine and bottle of whiskey, I headed over to Anand's bachelor pad. I'm sure you are curious about the lunch menu. Well it was fantastic sounding:
Pepper Chicken curry, Malabar Prawns curry, Chocolate Mousse with Sesame snaps and of course the star of the show Spotted Dick! Ooooooh! And yes Anand was cooking it all. Of course we volunteered to help but he seemed like he had it all down.
While blogging about this lunch I consciously thought of keeping all four recipes in one post - after all Anand did cook it all in one meal. However I will give links to the individual recipes.
Well due to the lack of burners there was an order in which the food had to be prepared so that we used the right no. of dishes (see I told you he was smart).
Note: All recipes are courtesy Anand.
So without wasting much time let me present to you the first recipe of the day.
In Anand's own words-
We started with the sesame snaps
Ingredients:
200gms sugar
100gms sesame seeds
100gms sesame seeds
1. In a skillet, caramelize the sugar till its a light golden brown (or if you like your caramel a little bitter, like I do, a dark golden brown) and stir in the sesame seeds.
2. Let this cook for a little over a minute
and pour onto
an
oiled tray or large sheet of foil.
3. Use a knife to spread this thin (2/3mm ideally) over the surface. Once
cooled,
snap off pieces big enough to scoop with and stick into the mousse.
The sugar starts to harden very fast, so spread the sesame on the foil as quickly and thinly as possible.
Anand and Lahar working fast with a spoon and a knife-
Silky soft and full of love Chocolate Mousse
Till I actually saw it being made I had no idea that the rich fluffiness of the chocolate mousse comes from beaten to death raw eggs. Harini of Tongue Ticklers told me that it is very possible to make a vegan version replacing the egg with silken tofu. I will ask her what the replacement for the double cream should be. Note: Double cream- not single or whipped. Apparently Lahar procured some double cream from a shop in Dadar- one of those little shops that sells everything. Chocolate, butter, double cream,
honey, whiskey - you just can't go wrong. I closed my eyes and sighed-
there goes my month's worth of workout out of the window. Oh but what
can you do about foodlove!
The Ingredients
350ml fresh double cream (preferably unsweetened)
200gms dark cooking chocolate
70gms butter
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons whiskey/brandy/rum (as per preference of poison)
200gms dark cooking chocolate
70gms butter
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons whiskey/brandy/rum (as per preference of poison)
1.Batter the chocolate into tiny pieces, by smashing it violently against the
kitchen counter or on/against/with a very hard object. Put this into a double
boiler with the butter (or any vessel in a bath of very hot water....not on the
flame) to melt till smooth and liquid.
2. Beat the fresh cream till to soft peaks consistency. When you pull your beater
or whisk out of it, it should leave pointed peaks that retain their shape.
Ideally the cream should double in size.
3. Pour the honey into another bowl with the eggs and beat till light. I prefer to
whisk the whites separately and then add in the yolks, so I can get more air
into the mix that way.
4. Fold the egg, alcohol and melted chocolate into the cream. Its important to
fold and not stir, because you don't want to lose the air in the mix, or you
won't have a very fluffy, light mousse.
5. Pour into pre-chilled glasses and refrigerate for at least an hour.
P.S. Pre chilling the glasses helps to cool the mousse down faster.
Lets talk about the main course. Once the desert was made and set aside for refrigeration we started with the pepper chicken and Malabar prawns.
Pepper Chicken
For the marinade:
1½ teaspoons of ginger garlic paste
1½ teaspoons of freshly ground pepper
2 teaspoons of coriander powder
1 teaspoon cumin powder
½ teaspoon turmeric powder
Pinch of salt
2 chicken breasts cut a little smaller than bite size (or four thighs, as per preference)
For the curry:
2 tablespoons cooking oil (olive or sunflower)
1 large onion, finely diced
1-2 green chilies (as per spice threshold) cut into three pieces and slit along its length
100ml coconut milk
½ large lime/lemon
1. Mix all the ingredients of the marinade and put it aside for at least half an hour. (Anand the fantastic host had everything prepped before we came in - onions chopped, chicken marinaded, house cleaned, music playing etc. etc.)
1½ teaspoons of ginger garlic paste
1½ teaspoons of freshly ground pepper
2 teaspoons of coriander powder
1 teaspoon cumin powder
½ teaspoon turmeric powder
Pinch of salt
2 chicken breasts cut a little smaller than bite size (or four thighs, as per preference)
For the curry:
2 tablespoons cooking oil (olive or sunflower)
1 large onion, finely diced
1-2 green chilies (as per spice threshold) cut into three pieces and slit along its length
100ml coconut milk
½ large lime/lemon
1. Mix all the ingredients of the marinade and put it aside for at least half an hour. (Anand the fantastic host had everything prepped before we came in - onions chopped, chicken marinaded, house cleaned, music playing etc. etc.)
2. Once the chicken has marinaded, heat the oil in a skillet or wok and sauté the onions till they are translucent, on the verge of turning golden brown.
3. Add the chicken with the marinade and cook till the chicken turns a light golden shade. Drizzle a little coconut milk on it (just enough to moisten the meat) and add water, enough to submerge all the chicken. Cover and let simmer for 25 minutes.
4. Once simmered, add the remaining coconut milk and stir for another 5-8 minutes. Squeeze in the lemon/lime juice, taking care to avoid dropping the pips into the curry. Stir and add salt to taste.
5. Garnish with chopped coriander, if you're into that sort of thing.
6. Peppercorns can also be added at the onion sautéing stage, but I prefer not to because I don't like hard peppery interruptions in the texture of my curry.
Followed by a quick and easy Malabar Prawn Curry (my absolute favourite)
Ingredients:
100-200 gms fresh, deveined prawns
1 large onion
1 large tomato
1-2 green chillies (again, as per spice threshold) cut into three pieces and slit along its length
1 teaspoon tamarind paste
1½ teaspoons of ginger garlic paste
100 ml coconut milk
2 tablespoons cooking oil (olive or sunflower)
Masala:
2 teaspoons coriander powder
1 teaspoon cumin powder
½ teaspoon turmeric powder
½ teaspoon red chilli powder
1. Sauté the onions and chillies in oil, till tender and translucent. Add the masala powders and cook till the aroma of the spices fill the kitchen (taking care not to burn it).
1 large onion
1 large tomato
1-2 green chillies (again, as per spice threshold) cut into three pieces and slit along its length
1 teaspoon tamarind paste
1½ teaspoons of ginger garlic paste
100 ml coconut milk
2 tablespoons cooking oil (olive or sunflower)
Masala:
2 teaspoons coriander powder
1 teaspoon cumin powder
½ teaspoon turmeric powder
½ teaspoon red chilli powder
1. Sauté the onions and chillies in oil, till tender and translucent. Add the masala powders and cook till the aroma of the spices fill the kitchen (taking care not to burn it).
2. Add the tomatoes and stir till cooked. Dissolve the
tamarind paste in half a cup of boiling hot water and stir it into the onions
and tomatoes.
Let it simmer till it thickens a bit. Add the coconut milk and
stir. Let this simmer for ten minutes and add the prawns.
If you like the prawns tender, cook for 2½ minutes. If you want them well done, and not hard, cook for 3½ minutes.
Add salt to taste and serve.
(Curry leaves can also be added with the onions and chillies in the beginning, if inclined towards curry leaves)
Now for the star of the show. Tataratara Tada:
Presenting Spotted Dick
100gm flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
100gm breadcrumbs
100gm butter (one Amul butter pack)
100gm white sugar
100gm apricot, dry
420gm raisins/sultanas
1 egg
½ nutmeg, powdered
2 tablespoons grated ginger
Orange zest from one orange
140ml milk
Pinch of salt
1. Chop the apricot very very fine.
2. Mix the flour, salt, baking powder, sugar and breadcrumbs.
100gm butter (one Amul butter pack)
100gm white sugar
100gm apricot, dry
420gm raisins/sultanas
1 egg
½ nutmeg, powdered
2 tablespoons grated ginger
Orange zest from one orange
140ml milk
Pinch of salt
1. Chop the apricot very very fine.
2. Mix the flour, salt, baking powder, sugar and breadcrumbs.
3. Add the ginger,
orange zest, apricots, butter and nutmeg and stir to a smooth consistency.
(The house is smelling amazing by now. The orange zest and ginger).
4. Add
the egg and milk and stir in. Add the raisins and mix till the sugar is
completely dissolved.
5. Butter a mould and pour the mixture in, smoothing it down flat. Cover the top of the container with foil, and place in a pressure cooker or crock pot with enough water.
6. If using a pressure cooker, let it cook for 15 mintues without the whistle/weight on, and then for 30 minutes with.
7. If steaming, it'd take between 2-3 hours.
8. Make sure there's enough water to last this duration of cooking.
9. Upturn the mould on a plate and cut into pieces. Serve with fresh custard. (Though we did not eat it with custard).
