no bake Archives - Page 6 of 10

Tomato Garlic Prawn Risotto

23|02|2014

On my blog birthday, I was excited like a child. I wanted to do all things blog. Fortunately, the kids were at the day care so there wasn’t much coming in the way. Having the day to myself, I created and photographed 4 recipes. The caramelised white chocolate cheesecake was already sitting in the refrigerator. I wanted to cut the cake on the same day so picture taking was left till the last minute. Since, I wanted the berries to be as fresh as possible I had to pick them up on the same day too. With boxes of strawberries, raspberries and blackberries at hand and not wanting to waste them (Not using precious berries for recipes especially photography has been considered ‘wasting’ at our place since the time this blog came into being) I wanted to make a few desserts.

By lunch time, there were bowls of batter everywhere. Baking trays kept going in and coming out of the oven. My clothes had stains of cocoa and meringue. There were sweet things in excess and no lunch. I have no shame in admitting that had it been me alone I would be happy to lunch on cake batters and dessert. But since it was a question of feeding others…that too parents-in-law, I knew I had to switch gears to savory.

Like most times, lunch came out of tins and cans. Some pasta sauce, Arborio rice, frozen prawns, a splatter of parmesan, fresh herbs from the garden and lunch was on the table. Risotto is made frequently at our place. We are rice lovers so I stock up on all kinds of rice. Since risotto can be easily turned into warm and filling one pot meals, I can cook up one at a short notice.

I have used frozen prawns on account of convenience. Fresh is always a great option. I usually prefer to keep a pasta sauce with chunky vegetables to add nutrition to the meal. You can go with your preference.

Tomato Garlic Prawns Risotto
Serves 4-5

3 cups salt-reduced chicken stock
1 cup tomato pasta sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small brown onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
1/2 cup finely grated parmesan
20-22 frozen prawns
salt and pepper, to taste
a handful of fresh basil and parsley leaves

Place stock, pasta sauce and 2 cups cold water in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook for 6 to 7 minutes or until mixture starts to simmer.

Heat 1 tbsp. oil in a large pan. Add onion and garlic. Cook, stirring, for 2 minutes or until softened. Add rice. Cook, stirring, for 1 to 2 minutes or until rice is coated. Add 1/3 cup stock mixture. Cook, stirring until stock has absorbed. Repeat with remaining stock, 1/3 cup at a time, until liquid has absorbed and rice is tender.

Meanwhile, heat the remaining oil in a frying pan and add the prawns. Stir fry for 2-3 minutes or until cooked through.

Add prawns to the rice. Stir to mix. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in 1/4 cup of the parmesan. Top with basil, parsley and remaining parmesan. Serve.

No Bake Caramelised White Chocolate Cheesecake. And a Blog Birthday.

22|02|2014

I wanted to start this post by saying Thank You! It’s been a year only, yet I feel I have done this all my life. I don’t remember having a single day in this year that I didn’t enjoy coming up with recipes, styling them, photographing them and blogging about them. And this experience has certainly left a desire in me to do more. To create, share, bond, grow!

This has been such an eventful phase in my life. Exploring blogging and uncovering a whole new world out there while discovering facets of my own personality that were unknown to me. I came across incredible bloggers who inspired me every day. I found friendship across the globe. So many of them made me feel like I’d go out for coffee with them every other day had we been aligned geographically.

Caramelised White Chocolate is my favourite thing in the world. I created a recipe around it during my first few days of blogging and have been wanting to do another one ever since. So I thought it was only appropriate that I make a cake around that. If you are new to caramelised white chocolate, it’s the most delicious thing one can taste. The chocolate caramelises on cooking slowly in the oven and turns into a light brown shade. It is very similar in taste to Dulce de Leche. I use David Lebovitz’s method of making this and have had success each and every time.

Putting the cheesecake together is a breeze. I made the base out of chocolate cookies. Then it’s a matter of mixing the components and placing it in the refrigerator to set. I contemplated the addition of a dark chocolate ganache topping. I wanted the white chocolate to shine in the recipe so I skipped the ganache and added a good dusting of cocoa. Good enough to look like a layer on top. We are enjoying berry season at the moment so it was easy for me to visualise my cheesecake. But if you don’t want to use berries, use shavings of dark chocolate, Maltesers (or a mix of other candies) or pretty swirls of whipped cream.

There is more cake coming up on my blog. The celebration has just started. Well to be honest, I am all for Sugar. I love cakes and desserts. But I have to think about how to get them finished since I don’t allow my pre-schoolers to indulge…let’s say over-indulge. Now, with family around there is enough reason to bake cakes.

Thank you once again for the wonderful year gone by. I am so excited to have started another one with you..another year of Sugar…..et al!

No Bake Caramelised White Chocolate Cheesecake with Berries
Serves 8-10

220 g chocolate cookies
50g butter, melted
2 tbsp. boiling water
3 teaspoons gelatine powder
300 ml thickened or heavy cream
500g cream cheese, softened
3 tbsp. Castor sugar (more if you prefer it sweeter, taste as you go)
1 cup caramelised white chocolate (recipe from David Lebovitz, here)
generous dusting of cocoa powder, to serve
Berries, to serve (or chocolate shavings, chocolate ganache or whipped cream)

Grease a 19 cm round Springform pan. Line the base and sides with baking paper.
Place the cookies in a food processor. Process until fine crumbs. Add melted butter and mix to combine. Using your fingertips, press biscuit mixture over base of prepared pan. Refrigerate for 30 minutes or until firm.

Pour boiling water into a small bowl. Sprinkle over gelatine. Using a fork, whisk until gelatine is dissolved. Set aside to cool slightly.

Using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar in a large bowl until smooth. Add in the caramelised white chocolate and combine. Stir gelatine mixture through cream cheese mixture to combine. In a separate bowl, whip heavy cream to soft peaks. Fold through cream in the cream cheese mixture, gradually. Spoon over the base of the cookie mixture. Smooth out the surface with a palette knife or the back of a spoon. Cover. Refrigerate for 4 hours or until set. Sprinkle generously with cocoa. Serve with berries.

Spicy Asian Eggplant Curry

16|02|2014

Eggplant curry which is spicy, sweet, sour at the same time. Great accompaniment with rice or breads and totally delicious.

On days when I go meat-less, one of my favourite things to cook are eggplants. Not only am I a big fan of the dark shiny purple skin and the soft mushy interior when cooked, I also love the ease with which eggplants take on flavours. Whether it is a Moussaka, a salad or my favourite way of roasting it on an open fire for an Indian Bhartha, this is an ingredient that seldom fails to bring out the creativity in me.

Having eaten and cooked with eggplants all my life, it wasn’t difficult for me to pair them up with Asian ingredients. Especially a curry. That way the eggplants become the star of the show and can effortlessly replace the non-vegetarian component of a meal. Sweet, sour, spicy, hot are the typical flavours that come to one’s mind when thinking about an Asian curry. This one has all of them. Feel free to play around with the quantities of each ingredient as per taste.

I have used Lebanese eggplants in this eggplant curry that are thinner and smaller than regular eggplants but very similar in taste with the large round ones. The larger ones can be used too but they would need to be sliced up into long thin pieces.

Spicy Asian Eggplant Curry
Serves 4

3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced lengthways
5 cm piece ginger roughly chopped
2 stalks lemongrass, outer skin removed (white part only)
1 tbsp. lime zest
4-5 red chillies (or as per taste)
3 tbsp. vegetable oil
7-8 small Lebanese eggplants, trimmed, halved or quartered lengthways
1 onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup finely diced tomatoes (I used canned diced tomatoes)
1/2 cup water
11/2 teaspoon finely chopped palm sugar
Salt, to taste
Coriander leaves for garnish
Finely chopped red chillies for garnish (optional)

Place the garlic, ginger, lemongrass, lime zest in the bowl of a food processor and process to a smooth paste.

Heat 2 tbsp of the oil in a large wok over medium-high heat. Add the eggplant and cook, covered, for 2 minutes. Turn the eggplant and cook, covered, for a further 3 minutes or until tender. Transfer to a plate lined with paper towel.

Heat the remaining oil in the wok over medium-high heat. Add the onion and fry for 2-3 minutes or until it softens. Add the spice paste and stir-fry for 1 minute or until aromatic. Add the tomatoes and water and bring to a gentle simmer. Simmer for 5 minutes or until sauce thickens slightly. Taste and season with palm sugar and salt.

Reduce heat to medium. Add the eggplant to the tomato mixture and cook, stirring occasionally, for 2 minutes or until heated through. Transfer to a serving platter and serve immediately with rice.

Grapes with Orange Creme Anglaise (Custard) and Hazelnuts

6|02|2014

They are beautiful…versatile.. and easily available. They are great for you. And since ancient times they have been associated with romance. But I wonder if they get the love that they deserve. When we picturise a pretty fruity dessert, we think of berries, stone fruits, figs and so on.
Grapes? Not really. To be honest, I never did. So considering that this is the month of love, I thought I’d give them some dessert love.

Crème Anglaise is my favourite dessert sauce in the world. I have tried out hundreds of combinations over the years and I find nothing as fancy carrying a dessert tray with fruits or cake and a little jug of Crème Anglaise on the side to be poured by the person it is being served to. It’s very restaurant-like to put it down in front of your guests. And mind you, I do it in style and enjoy all the curiosity and attention it generates. Go ahead, try it. A word of caution, though. If you are serving it for a crowd, make sure you pour them into individual pots or serving glasses. You don’t want your diners fighting over a jug of crème anglaise. But now since we are talking Valentines’s day, sharing is allowed. In fact, it is encouraged!

I have forever used David Lebovitz’s recipe as the base recipe for Crème Anglaise. Depending on the chosen flavours, I add or take away. He is a genius, isn’t he? His recipes always work for me. For this dessert, I have halved the recipe and that should make a cup of Crème Anglaise. Initially, I wanted to ‘brandy’ the grapes but I had already used Cointreau in the custard. You can leave out the liqueur if you want to. Cointreau or any other orange liqueur contributes a more intense orange flavour to the custard. The custard can be made up to 3 days in advance and stored covered in the refrigerator.

Grapes with Orange Crème Anglaise (Custard) and Hazelnuts
Serves 2

1 cup seedless red grapes
1/4 cup toasted hazelnuts
1 cup Crème Anglaise (recipe below)
Icing sugar to dust.

Divide the grapes and toasted hazelnuts between two serving glasses. Pour over chilled Crème Anglaise. Dust with icing sugar. Serve

Orange Crème Anglaise
1 cups (250 ml) whole milk
4 tbsp. sugar
zest of two medium oranges
3 egg yolks
1 tbsp. Cointreau or any other orange liquor (optional)

Pour the milk into a medium saucepan and add the sugar.

Grate the zest of the oranges directly into the milk. Warm gently, then remove from heat, cover, and let steep for one hour.

When ready to cook the custard, make an ice bath by putting ice cubes and a small amount of cold water into a large bowl and resting a smaller metal or glass bowl in the ice. Set a fine mesh strainer over the top.

Whisk the yolks in a separate small bowl.

Gently rewarm the milk, then slowly pour it into the egg yolks, whisking constantly as you pour. Scrape the mixture back into the saucepan and cook over moderate heat, stirring constantly with a heatproof spatula, until the custard begins to thicken and coats the spatula.

Immediately strain the custard into the bowl set over ice, pressing the zest in the strainer to extract as much flavor as possible, then discard.

Stir the custard until cool. When the Crème Anglaise is cooling, grate a few swipes of fresh orange zest into the custard, which looks nice and adds a touch more orange flavour. If you’d like, add a spoonful of orange-flavoured liqueur, such as Cointreau or Grand Marnier.

Store in the refrigerator and serve chilled.

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