This version of marzipan is made using cashew seeds and is shaped into little colorful bites. It is the crowning glory of every Indian Christmas platter.
My favourite Marzipan recipe
Course: DessertCuisine: GoanDifficulty: Medium250
grams15
minutes15
minutes20
minutesThis version of marzipan is made using cashew seeds and is shaped into little colorful bites. It is the crowning glory of every Indian Christmas platter.
Ingredients
125g Cashew Nuts
200g Sugar
1 egg white
1/2 tsp Almond essence
1/4 cup water
Food colours, as required
Directions
- Soak the cashew nuts in some (room temperature) water for about 10 minutes. Drain, run some fresh water through the nuts, and drain them again.
- Grind the cashew nuts, egg white and water to a fine paste.
- Pour the ground paste, the almond essence and sugar into a large heavy pan. Place the pan on low-medium heat and stir to combine.
- Cook the paste on a medium low heat, stirring continuously till it thickens and starts coming away from the pan.
- Use the water test to check if the Marzipan is ready. Place some ice cold water in a small bowl and drop a 1/2 teaspoon of the sweet on it. If it firms up on cooling it is done. If it is still soft or too sticky, it needs more cooking.
- As soon as it has cooked, pour the marzipan on a large plate and spread it out a little and leave it to cool down a little. Knead it to a dough while it is still warm.
- Portion and colour the marzipan as desired.
- You can now shape the marzipan as needed or use it in any recipe that calls for it.
- If you making little shapes with the marzipan, once you de-mould it, place it on a plate and leave it to air dry for a while till it sets and is slightly firm to the touch. You can then place it in an airtight container and store. This should last you a couple of weeks if stored well.
- If the temperature is too high where you are, consider refrigerating it till needed.
Enjoy!!!
Recipe Video
Notes
- Cooking times can vary greatly. This depends on the size and thickness of the vessel used to cook the marzipan, the heat level used during the cooking process and the quantity being made. Please refer to the video, for my recommended water-test to check if your marzipan is ready.
- The prep and cook time does not include the time required for this to cool down and mould into shapes. This time depends on your climate and the designs you are working with.
- These marzipan can be served immediately after shaping. To store, please allow a couple of hours for the pieces to set after they are taken out of the moulds.
Chocolate Hazelnut Fudge
Most Goan Sweet recipes are a labor of love and usually require either hours of stirring on the stovetop or take hours to shape and form. And while I love them all and make most of them every year, I love having recipes like this Chocolate Hazelnut Fudge on hand. This recipe is a great one to have on hand. It uses just 4 ingredients and the cooking time is just a few minutes. And, after leaving it to set in the fridge for a few hours, you end up with a super delicious, decadent chocolate fudge. This time around, I’m using hazelnuts in the fudge and I’m happy to report that this fudge tastes very similar to the Ferrero Rocher chocolates you find in the shops, albeit, without the wafer. You can customize this fudge to suit your liking by swapping hazelnuts for any nuts that you prefer.
Chocolate Hazelnut Fudge
Course: DessertCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy64
pieces5
minutes5
minutes8
hoursThis utterly delicious Chocolate fudge is so simple to make, it will make the cut to your Christmas platter every year. Its perfect for a little sweet treat any time of the year.
Ingredients
350g dark chocolate
100g hazelnuts
1 tin condensed milk (we get 395g tins here)
30g butter
Directions
- Line a 9 inch square baking tray with some foil, leaving a little overhang on the sides and set aside.
- Lightly roast the hazelnuts. Carefully remove any pieces of skin / peel that may have been left on. Let the nuts cool down completely.
- Roughly chop the nuts or place them in a ziplock back and crush the nuts with a rolling pin. You will be left with a rough chop.
- Add the butter, condensed milk and chocolate pieces to a heavy bottomed pan. Stir over medium heat till the chocolate has melted and everything in the pan has combined to form a rich, luscious mix.
- Add the hazelnuts and stir through to incorporate well. You will notice the mix starting to thicken.
Quickly pour into the foil lined tray. Leave it on the countertop to cool down a little. - Once it comes to room temperature, pop the tray into the fridge and leave it to set for 4-6 hours or overnight.
- Carefully peel back the foil. Cut the fudge into squares and serve.
If you’re not serving this up immediately, place in an airtight container and refrigerate till needed.
Enjoy!!!
Recipe Video
Eggless Nankatais – A great biscuit option for Christmas
Let’s talk about the dough for a bit. It is such a ridiculously simple recipe, you will be surprised at how tasty the nankatais turn out. I find that this dough can be a little finicky and it usually works beautifully on a slightly warm day. While that works beautifully for us in Australia and anyone in the Southern Hemisphere, it could be a challenge in the Northern Hemisphere, where its the middle of winter. If its cold where you are, you might find that the dough ends up a little crumbly and you may have a little difficulty shaping it into a cookie. When that happens, I pop the dough in an ovensafe bowl and pop it into a slightly warm oven (about 100 degrees) for a couple of minutes. This helps the ghee warm up and helps bind the dough.
Eggless Nankatais – A great biscuit option for Christmas
Course: CookiesCuisine: IndianDifficulty: Easy30
cookies20
minutes15
minutesThese melt-in-your-mouth biscuits are perfect with a cup of tea and are so good, you can proudly add them to your Christmas platter.
Ingredients
1 1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup besan (chickpea flour)
1 cup sugar (superfine. You can also powder larger grain sugar and then use it in the recipe)
2/3 cup of ghee (clarified butter)
1/4 tsp baking soda
Directions
- Preheat your oven to 180 deg. Celsius and line a baking tray with some baking / parchment paper.
- Mix the ghee and sugar till it is light and creamy. Scrape down the edges and bottom of the mixing bowl halfway through the process.
- Add the rest of the ingredients (baking soda, all purpose flour and chickpea flour) to the mixing bowl and continue mixing till it forms a dough.
- Shape into little cookies by rolling portions of the dough into a little ball and flatten it slightly. Place the cookies on the lined baking tray.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes or till done. Your looking for a light colour on the edges.
- Take it out of the oven and leave the cookies to cool on the tray itself.
When completely cool, store in an airtight container.
Enjoy!
Recipe Video
Vanilla Sponge Cake – A classic tea time treat
Now I know, this is not a very Christmassy recipe, but I know a few people who don’t like fruit cake and actually request for a sponge cake instead. While this recipe is basic, there’s nothing basic about the end result. It uses simple ingredients and results in a really flavorful cake. While you can use this cake as a starting point for a number of cake creations and other desserts, this cake can hold its own as a tea cake too. Infact, my husband enjoys this cake so much, that when he asks me to whip one up, he justs wants it as is, no frosting or anything.
If you’re someone who wants to learn how to bake, this is a great place to start. I’ve actually filmed the recipe too and I’ve included some of my tips and tricks to help out novice bakers. I will link the video at the end of this post.
Vanilla Sponge Cake
Course: Cakes, Cakes, Cookies u0026amp; Desserts, Christmas Recipes, Recipes16
servings15
minutes30
minutesA beautiful, classic Vanilla sponge cake is great for a tea time treat by itself, but it also lends itself beautifully to other, more complex desserts.
Ingredients
250g butter, at room temperature
250g sugar (Use either a really fine grain or powder your sugar in a dry grinder before using)
250 all purpose flour
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract / vanilla bean paste
1 tsp baking powder
Directions
- Preheat your oven to 180ºC and line the base of your cake tin and grease the base and the sides and set aside.
- Separate the eggs.
- Whisk the egg whites to stiff peak stage and set aside.
- In a large mixing bow, beat the butter, sugar, egg yolks and vanilla till light and creamy.
- Mix the flour and baking powder.
- Sift the flour mix into the butter and sugar mix in 3 stages, folding the flour into the batter only until just incorporated, with each addition.
- Add a couple of scoops of the stiff egg whites to the cake batter and gently mix to loosen the batter. Gently fold the rest of the egg whites into the batter till it is well incorporated.
- Pour the cake batter into the prepared cake tin and bake for 30 minutes or till a cake pierced through the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Let the cake cool down in the cake tin.
When it has reached room temperature, carefully take it out of the tin.
You can now use this cake in any recipe that calls for a vanilla sponge cake or serve it as it is.
Enjoy!!!
Recipe Video
Turmeric Latte – A golden turmeric milk – Haldi doodh
Turmeric latte … Yay or nay?
This is a post I have been meaning to share for some time now. I know a while ago, turmeric lattes were all the rage everywhere. I was happy to see it gain popularity. We have been enjoying this golden cuppa for decades now.
I remember piping hot mugs of turmeric latte when I was a child. My mum would make this for us, usually before bedtime during the monsoons or winter, or when we had a cough or cold. Our version of the turmeric latte has some ingredients that are wonderful to soothe a sore throat. Turmeric, ginger and honey are all known for its health benefits. I was convinced that the only way I could get rid of a cough or a bad throat was with a mug of this golden goodness before bedtime.
If you need to chase those winter blues away or if you just need to cut down on your coffee intake, substitute your cup of coffee with this turmeric latte. Even though we used to have a mug of it just before bedtime, I now find myself reaching for this even in the morning or later in the day, when I’m craving a hot cuppa.
The way we make it, you don’t need any fancy gadgets or equipment. Yes, you do need a couple of warming spices (namely, turmeric powder and ginger powder), but a little goes a long way, you won’t need to purchase them often. We tend to have both powders in the pantry, so its really easy to fix up a batch of turmeric latte. This recipe is more just a guide. Tweak it to your liking for that perfect cup. This is how I like it.
Turmeric Latte – Haldi doodh
Course: BeveragesCuisine: IndianDifficulty: Easy1
servings5
minutesA warm, mildly spiced beverage is perfect for those cold, wet days. It’s also great to soothe a sore throat.
Ingredients
1 cup milk
1 tsp organic honey (or to taste)
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/8 tsp ginger powder
Directions
Recipe Video
A Weekend Breakfast Favourite – Masala Omelette
A Weekend Breakfast Favourite – Masala Omelette
Course: BreakfastCuisine: IndianDifficulty: Easy1
servings5
minutes5
minutesA spiced omelette, easy to put together has big punchy flavours and makes a fantastic savoury breakfast.
Ingredients
2 eggs
2 tbsp finely chopped onions
2 tbsp finely chopped tomatoes
1-2 tsp finely chopped coriander leaves and stalks
1/2 birdseye chilly, finely chopped (or to taste)
Salt, to taste
Freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
A good pinch of turmeric powder
1 tsp oil
Directions
- Add the onions, tomatoes, chilly and coriander to a bowl.
Add the salt, pepper and turmeric powder to the bowl and mix everything thoroughly. - Heat a pan over medium heat.
- Drizzle the oil in the pan.
- When the oil has heated, pour the omelette mix into the pan.
Cook it over medium heat till the bottom side has set and turned a light brown. - Carefully flip over and cook on the other side as well.
Serve hot.
Enjoy!
Recipe Video
The Best Chocolate Brownies
It’s the perfect baking option for holidays or when you’re baking for a crowd because of its simplicity. The recipe can be doubled if you like. And when simple recipes yield such fantastic results, you know you’re on to a winner.
So I do hope you try these brownies out.
The Best Chocolate Brownies
Course: DessertCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy12
servings15
minutes30
minutesFudgy, gooey and so chocolatey, these brownies are bound to become every chocolate-lovers favourite.
Ingredients
110g all purpose flour
185g salted butter
175g dark chocolate (either buttons, or roughly chopped bars, both would work)
175g sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
A pinch of salt
50g chocolate chips.
Directions
- Melt the butter and dark chocolate in a heavy bottomed pan on low heat. Once everything has melted, take the pan off the heat and set it aside to cool.
- Halfway through the cooling process, turn the oven on and preheat it to 180ºC.
- Line an 8 inch square baking tray with some foil and leave an overhang on the sides. The foil makes clean up so much easier and the overhang helps take the brownies out of the try very easily.
- Crack one egg into a small bowl and lightly whisk it. Add it to the melted and cooled butter and chocolate mix and whisk to incorporate. Repeat this with the second egg.
- Add the vanilla, salt and sugar and whisk well, making sure everything has mixed well.
- Now add the flour and whisk until just combined.
- Add the chocolate chips and fold it through the batter with the help of a spatula.
- Pour the batter into the foil lined tray and bake for about 25-30 minutes.
- Take the brownies out of the oven and let them cool completely.
You can now cut them into squares and serve.
Enjoy!
Recipe Video
Pin now and try later!
SRC 2018 Reunion – Sweet Chili Pork
Early last month, Sarah of Fantastical Sharing of Recipes, who happens to be our SRC boss lady 😉 called out to all the club members and announced an SRC reunion event. Of course, I signed up for it and for this event, I was assigned Micha’s blog, Cooking Mimi. Micha’s blog is packed with great recipes. I had an absolute blast going through her blog and picking a recipe for today. After a lot of looking around I narrowed my choices down to this Hawaiian Pork, Potstickers (she even makes her own potsticker wrappers), Quick and Crispy Pork Cutlets and her Sweet Chili Pork. Have you spotted the trend here? I somehow happened to be zeroing in on Pork recipes. So this much was clear, I knew I was making Pork. When I saw her recipe for Sweet Chili Pork my mind was made up. This is what I was going to make.
Before we move on to the recipe, let’s talk about this Sweet Chili Pork, shall we? This dish has it all with juicy little pieces of pork tossed in a sweet sauce with mild heat from the Sweet Chili sauce and the crunch of the onion and capsicum just rounds it off beautifully. I could not believe how easy this recipe was. I wanted to try it just to see if a recipe this minimal would hit the spot. And hit the spot it did. I am so glad I tried this out. My husband is not a fussy eater but he is my biggest critic and helps me work on recipes and tweak them. He was floored by this recipe. And I agree with him 100%. This recipe is very similar to the kind of takeaway meals we got back in Bombay, albeit not with pork, but with chicken. Thank you Micha, for an absolute stunner.
I only made a couple of minor additions to the original recipe. I added some finely chopped ginger and garlic and some pieces of capsicum (green peppers) to the recipe. We served this up with some fried rice, but this would work very well with some noodles too.
Don’t forget to see what the others have whipped up for our 2018 reunion –
SRC 2018 Reunion – Sweet Chili Pork
Course: MainsCuisine: American – ChineseDifficulty: Medium4
servings10
minutes20
minutesJuicy little pieces of pork tossed in a sweet sauce with mild heat from the Sweet Chili sauce and the crunch of the onion and capsicum.
Ingredients
1/4 kg boneless pork
1 egg
1/3 cup flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup + 1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 large onion, cut into cubes
1 /2 green capsicum, cut into cubes (similar in size to the onion cubes)
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2″ ginger, finely chopped
1/2 cup sweet chilli sauce
Salt, to taste
1 tbsp lime juice
Directions
- Heat 1/2 cup of oil in a skillet over moderate heat.
- Crack the egg into a small bowl, whisk it and set it aside.
- In another bowl, mix the flour and cornstarch.
- Cut the pork into bite sized pieces.
- Toss the pieces in a little salt and lime juice. Toss the pork pieces in the flour mix. Then dip them in the egg and in the flour mix again .
- Fry the pieces of pork in batches for about 3-4 minutes a side or until golden brown and crispy. Drain and set aside.
- Heat 1 tbsp of oil in another pan.
- When the oil is hot, add the onion and capsicum and stir fry till the pieces have just started to soften. I like mine a little crunchy. Cook it to your desired level of doneness.
- Add the finely chopped ginger and garlic and stir it around.
- Add the sweet chilly sauce and the fried pork pieces. Stir to coat everything in the sweet chili sauce. At this point, if you want a little more sauce in the dish, add some more. Toss well.
Serve hot.
Enjoy!!!
Spinach, Feta and Ricotta Rolls
So getting back to yesterday. When I found myself with a big basket of Ricotta cheese and a bag of Spinach I needed to use up, I decided to see if I could use the two together and come up with something delicious. After a little looking around, I found just the thing. I’ve based my rolls on a similar recipe I found online and I just switched it up to my liking. This time around, I used store bought Puff pastry. I had a packet in the freezer that I wanted to use up too. This recipe has just 2 basic components – the pastry and the filling. The filling is really easy to put together. You just mix up all the ingredients and your ready to go. The verdict – These rolls are really good. They’re not exactly like the Muffin Break ones. I am now convinced that there is some flour added to their filling, possibly to bulk it up. But these homemade rolls can give them a serious run for their money. And this time, I know for sure that there’s a heap of spinach in there. And everyone knows that Spinach with Ricotta and Feta is a match made in heaven. So let’s have a look at these Spinach Rolls, shall we?
Spinach, Feta and Ricotta Rolls
Course: SnacksDifficulty: Easy18
servings20
minutes30
minutesFull of the goodness of spinach and two different types of cheese, these rolls are a great lunchbox snack and also work pretty well as a tea-time snack.
Ingredients
3 sheets Pampas all butter Puff pastry
200g Feta Cheese
300g Ricotta Cheese
150g Baby Spinach, finely chopped
Red Chilli Flakes, to taste
Salt, to taste
Freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
1 egg
Black sesame seeds, to sprinkle over
Directions
- Preheat your oven to 180ºC. Place the baking tray in the oven.
- Thaw 3 sheets of puff pastry. The pastry should be soft enough to work with but still cold. If it warms up too much, it gets sticky and difficult to work with.
- Crumble the feta into a bowl.
- Now add the Ricotta and crumble that in as well.
- Add crushed black pepper to taste.
- Taste the mix and add more salt if you want. I didn’t need to add any salt at this stage.
- Add the spinach and red chili flakes. Mix well.
- Crack the egg into a small bowl. Whisk and keep aside.
- Working with one sheet at a time, cut the sheet in half.
- Spoon the mix to form a long log in the center of each half of the pastry (lengthwise).
- Brush one side (along the length) of each half of the sheet with the whisked egg.
- Roll the other side of pastry over the spinach into a tight log. The egg will help seal the pastry.
- Cut each roll into 3 pieces. (Alternatively, you can cut the pieces into the size you’d like.)
- Place the rolls on greaseproof paper, seam side down. Repeat with the rest of the pastry.
- Carefully place the paper onto the heated tray.
- Brush the tops of the rolls with the whisked egg (egg wash).
- Crack some black pepper on the top of each roll and sprinkle some black sesame seeds on the rolls.
- Bake for about 30 minutes or till golden brown in colour.
Serve hot.
Nonya Chicken Curry
So, a while ago, when I saw this episode of Poh & Co, where Poh (one of my favourite TV chefs) whipped up a Nonya (a type of Malaysian) Chicken Curry, both, my husband and I knew we had to try the recipe out. The recipe does call for a few specialty ingredients, but the first time I made this curry, I didn’t have them and so I left them out. Even then the curry was a great one. But I knew I wanted to try the recipe with all of the ingredients. So I picked up the Pandan leaves and the Shrimp Belachan at a local Asian grocery store and made the curry again. This time with all the ingredients. The result was a mind-blowing curry. Now I don’t often refer to a curry as mind-blowing. A cake, maybe, but never a curry. But this curry is all that, and then some. It is one of my favorite chicken curries. And today I’m going to show you how I make mine. I have altered the method a tiny bit, to make the recipe more convenient and I hope you try this out the next time you want to make a chicken curry.
I tried to serve it up like a Nasi Lemak, but with plain rice instead of coconut rice. I added some fried baby anchovies, peanuts, boiled egg and some cucumber slices.
This curry also goes really well with roti or even bread. If you can get on hands on some Roti Canai, even better.
If you’ve never made a curry before, don’t let the idea scare you. It is easier than you think. I’ve put together a video to walk you through the process.
Let’s move on the the detailed recipe for this Nonya Chicken Curry.
Nonya Chicken Curry
Course: MainsDifficulty: Medium8
servings30
minutes30
minutesA few special ingredients, a spice-blend thats made from scratch, makes a truly well balanced curry comes together quite easily and is so very delicious.
Ingredients
3 tbsp Coriander seeds
1 tsp Cumin seeds
1 tsp Fennel seeds
15 dried red chillies
2 onions, roughly chopped
4 cloves garlic
20g toasted Belachan
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
8-10 curry leaves
2 tbsp oil (I use olive oil for all my cooking. You can use whatever oil you normally cook with.)
1 star anise
3 cloves
1 inch cinnamon
1 1/2 kilo chicken pieces
2 potatoes, cut into large cubes
2 birdseye chillies, slit lengthways
1 can coconut cream (400 ml can)
2 pandan leaves
Directions
- Deseed the dried chillies and soak them in hot water till they’ve rehydrated and softened.
- In a dry pan, on medium heat, roast the coriander, cumin and fennel seeds till fragrant. Take them off the pan and set aside to cool.
- Take the skin off the chicken, cut into pieces, trim the fat off and set aside.
- Using a blender or food processor (you can also use a mortar and pestle if you dont have one), grind the roasted coriander-fennel-cumin seeds mix, drained red chillies, onion, garlic, belachan and turmeric to a fine paste, adding a little water as needed.
- Heat oil in a large pot / pan over medium heat.
- Add the star anise, cinnamon and cloves and let them fry till fragrant about 20-30 seconds.
- Add the spice paste (rempah) to the pan and saute for 6-8 minutes till the sauce is very fragrant.
- Tear the pandan leaves into 3 strips lengthways and knot them together. Add the pandan and curry leaves to the spice mix.
- Add the chicken to the pan and stir to coat with the spice paste. Saute for 1-2 minutes or till the chicken pieces start to look opaque.
- Add the coconut cream and stir well.
- Add the potatoes, salt and sugar. Add a little water to thin down the sauce a little to reach the desired consistency. Let it come to a boil.
- Add the slit birdseye chillies, lower the heat, cover the pot and simmer till tender.
- Check after 5-7 minutes, add more water if needed, stir to make sure the curry doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan. Cover the pot and continue cooking till the chicken and potatoes are cooked.
Serve hot with rice.
Enjoy!!!