Fake Caviar

Put one cup of vegetable oil in the freezer for half an hour.
Boil fish/fishbones/crab claws in water with a bit of salt till the liquid tastes nice and fishy. (Or use fish stock or a fish cube. Soak a bit of agar-agar in it for 15 minutes and then heat till it dissolves. Use a few drops of food colouring - orange or squid ink - and using a dropper, drop the liquid into the cold oil. Strain the oil once you're done and your caviar is ready!
(You can use gelatine instead of agar-agar.)

Tom Yum Soup

There's nothing quite like soup to lift your spirits on a grey, gloomy day. And there's nothing quite like Tom Yum Soup to lift them even higher. For me, especially so because so much of what goes in comes from the garden!

          

It's a simple, delicious soup that warms the cockles of your heart. The first step is to make the delicious clear soup. Of course, if you don't have all these ingredients at hand, just go get yourself a packet of Tom Yum Soup mix!

Ingredients

Lemon grass stalks, ginger, lime leaves, coriander stalks, basil leaves, limes, chicken or vegetable stock. And a green chilly if you can stomach it!
Vegetables: Cabbage, carrots, mushrooms, greens, capsicums.

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Boil the lemon grass, ginger, lime leaves, coriander, chilly and some of the basil leaves in the stock. When the stock tastes of ginger and lemon grass, add the lime juice (and salt to taste) and remove from the stove. In another pan, saute the vegetables chopped large, for five minutes and add to the stock and serve with basil leaves.

(Optional: you can add chicken or prawns to the soup. And a dash of fish sauce.)

Baked Cheesecake

Take 4 large eggs and beat with a hand mixer.

Add 1 cup of powdered sugar and beat for a few minutes.

Then add 400 grams of cream cheese and beat. I make my own but you could substitute it with 400 grams of Greek Yogurt or 400 grams of Mascarpone Cheese (you can make it at home – you’ll find the recipe here).

Add 500 ml. of cream, beat.

Meanwhile, crush 10 Marie biscuits, mix with 2 tablespoons almond meal and half a cup of melted butter. Line a baking dish and bake for 5 minutes at 250 degrees C.

Pour the mixture into the baking dish and bake till a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Mine takes 50 minutes with a 220°C setting.

You can eat it as it is or top it with jam or stewed fruits. I love marmalade so that’s what I use.

Home-made Mascarpone Cheese

Bring half a litre of cream to a simmer over very low heat.

Add 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and stir for a few minutes then remove from heat.

Line a colander with cheesecloth and pour in the cream. 

Place it over an empty pan overnight in the fridge. 

It’s ready to use in the morning. 

Ragi Muffins

Finger millet has been cultivated in Africa and India for thousands of years and today, with millets making a comeback when it comes to healthy eating, it’s time to look at how this health food can be used in various ways. This is a simple recipe and makes for a great breakfast or tea time snack.

Here’s what you need:

2 eggs

I cup ragi flour

½ cup butter

½ cup milk

1 level teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

½ cup grated carrots

½ cup grated apple

Beat the eggs, add the butter, salt, sugar, baking powder and ragi flour and mix, add the milk and stir, then mix in the grated carrot and apple. Let stand for 10 minutes while you preheat the oven to 200 degrees C. Grease the muffin pans with butter or oil and spoon in the mixture. Bake for 15 minutes.

Frozen Yoghurt Ice-Cream

250 g strawberries

1 large cup sugar

1 egg white

400 g yoghurt (I use Danone dahi)

Freeze the strawberries. Grind the sugar in a blender/mixer. Put in the strawberries and blend. Add the egg white and beat everything for a few minutes. Add the yoghurt/dahi and blend. 

Freeze. 

Enjoy.

You can use mangoes, mango puree, kiwi, watermelon or any fruit you like. Just make sure you freeze the fruit before you grind it.

This recipe is a variation of Matt Preston’s Easy Ice-Cream on Master Chef. He used cream in his recipe. I substituted it with yoghurt/dahi.

Veggie Dinner

I managed to lay my hands on some fennel – not very usual in India. So I decided to build dinner today around it. So there was fried fennel, roasted corn, grilled paneer (cottage cheese), capsicum and onion and a salad.

Fennel: Slice the fennel into fairly thick slices and boil in salted water till just soft. Drain, dip in beaten egg, roll in breadcrumbs and fry till golden. For the breadcrumbs, I ground fresh bread with cheese and some celery and a pinch of salt.

Corn: I roasted it on the stove and rubbed it with some lime juice, salt and chilli powder.

Grilled Stuff: Cut the capsicum, onion and paneer into large cubes and marinate in a mixture of yogurt, garlic, mint and olive oil for half an hour. Skewer and grill till done.

Salad: Tear up salad leaves, mix with cherry tomatoes and cucumber slices. I prefer to serve the dressing separate. I used vinegar, olive oil, honey, salt and chilli flakes.