Homemade Coffee Liqueur

I love DIY- do it yourself. As a child, I remember spending time more over all sorts of crafts than anything else. It just satisfies my creative soul to another level. I have had phases of love affair with embroidery, artwork, crochet, tatting etc which continued well till my college life. My love for food started after marriage and I realized my old love for diy's in it too. Instead of buying steep ingredients from the shelves, I experimented with them at home in the form of diy.

Making Coffee liqueur at home was in the cards for a long long time and I just kept procrastinating it. Once a bottle of Vodka (which was esp bought for the liqueur making) got over just because I kept postponing the idea and my husband found his greedy eyes on it. So, after much contemplation another bottle was demanded from the culprit and this time I decided to hide it. It turned out that I was so good in putting it away that I myself forgot all about it. Kolkata Food Bloggers ongoing event Chef's challenge made me remember about it and thus finally I had my bottle of Homemade Coffee Liqueur. 

I found loads of ideas on Pinterest and ended up making a version myself with adjusted quantities. Making it is literally a breeze because it is essentially mixing all the ingredients. Keep it in a clean bottle and let it age for 2-3 weeks for better and enhanced flavouring. 

I used my liqueur in Nigella Lawson's sinful Coffee Pannacotta with boozy chocolate sauce. I have a list of other sinful desserts to be tried out with the coffee liqueur and will keep sharing them as well. Till then, make your homemade version of Coffee Liqueur and stock it. 

Ingredients : Makes 150 ml or around 3/4 cup 

• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 tbsp instant coffee
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup vodka (I used White Mischief ultra pure Vodka)

Procedure : 

Heat water and sugar in a pan on medium flame. Allow the sugar to melt.

Stir in instant coffee.

Let this mixture simmer for 15-20 minutes.

Remove from heat and allow to cool completely.

Add vodka and vanilla and mix.

Store in a clean glass bottle and let it mature for 2-3 weeks for the flavour to enhance. 

Use it in your cakes, brownies, tiramisu, puddings etc

Happy DIY Coffee liqueur

Amrita

Mango Sorbet

We have almost reached the fag end of the lovely Mango season and like every year I did my experiments with the mighty fruit. The mango ice cream I experimented this year was loved and relished so much that I made it three times over. The Lychee lemon sorbet was a hit too at home, so much so it gave me the idea to try a mango version of it. Since I do not have an Ice cream machine, the texture of the Lychee sorbet was not very soft. I expected the same with my Mango sorbet, but surprisingly it came out much smoother in texture. I reckon, it is because of the texture of the fruit which lend its natural smoothness. 

The lovely part of a sorbet is that it just melts in your mouth and refreshes your palate making you feel not too heavy with the dessert. It is light, refreshing and a smooth dessert and this season I am in love with Sorbet's. 

Since my last experiment with Lychee pannacotta , I have been hit hard with the dessert plating bug (if there is any) There was no set plan for plating this dessert but since the texture of the mango sorbet was so smooth that I got near perfect quenelles, I quickly planned one before clicking pictures of the same. I randomly put the quenelles on some chocolate biscuit crumb and threw in some mango cubes along with mint leaves. 

Ingredients : Serves 2-3

• Mango pulp from 1 ripe mango(I used a variety called Langda)
• 1/4 cup or less sugar, depending on the sweetness of the mango
• 1/4 cup water

Procedure : 

Heat sugar and water in a pan till sugar dissolves.

Strain the mango pulp to remove any fibre and add it to the pan.

Cook for a minute and them remove from flame.

Allow to cool completely.

Transfer to a freeze proof container and freeze overnight or for minimum 6 hrs.

Next morning break the crystals with a fork and put it back in the freezer. Repeat 3-4 times. This will help achieve a smooth texture.

For plating, crumble a chocolate biscuit (I used hide and seed) and put on a plate. Make quenelles out of the mango sorbet with the help of two spoons and place on top of the biscuit crumbs. Place cubes of mango randomly on the plate and finish with mint leaves. 

Otherwise just scoop out the sorbet and enjoy it. 

Happy Mango Relishing

Amrita

This recipe is a part of Kolkata Food Bloggers ongoing event 'Celebrating Summer Fruits'. Find more recipes here 

One Pot Ham and Peas Fusilli Pasta

Kolkata Food Bloggers encourages new and interactive events where its members can showcase versatility and passion. Our new ongoing event is featuring one member for a week where the chosen one gets to decide on a theme of their choice. For this week, our featured blogger is Chitrangada Kundu who blogs from Color and Spices, a blog with wonderful recipes and amazing breath-taking food photography. 

Recently, KFB held a demo workshop where Chitrangada tried explaining us a thing or two about Food photography. I was lucky to get an opportunity to attend the same and was enthralled at her knowledge and passion. With the limited time, she tried to pack in as much information as possible and shared lots of her hard-learned tips. 

For this week, our event showcases One Pot meal wonders. I have been elusive of this fuss free way of cooking and decided to try an easy pasta recipe. This is literally a dump in kind of a recipe where everything is just put in the pan and then allowed to cook. Simple and easy as a breeze, it is a quick way to beat some sudden hunger pangs.

Ingredients : Serves 2

• 1/2 cup Fusilli Pasta
• 1/4 cup chicken ham, cubed
• handful of green peas
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium sized onion, chopped
• 3-4 cloves of garlic, chopped
• salt to taste
• black pepper to taste
• 1 tsp of mixed dried herbs
• 1 tbsp all purpose flour
• 1 cup water
• 3/4 cup milk
• parmesan cheese for sprinkling

Procedure : 

Heat oil in a pan and saute onions till translucent. Add chopped garlic and ham cubes. Stir for a minute.

Add flour and the fusilli pasta and mix.

Stir in water and milk. 

Add salt and pepper.

Cook for 10-15 minutes and then stir in the peas.

Cook for another 5 minutes or till the pasta is done. 

Sprinkle parmesan cheese and dried herbs on top and serve. 

This recipe is part of Kolkata Food Bloggers ongoing event One Pot meals which features our blogger Chitrangada Kundu who blogs from Color and Spices

Happy Enjoying a fuss free One Pot meal

Amrita

Lychee lemon Sorbet

Summers are synonymous with lovely fruits like the eternal Mango and Lychees amongst others. I have fond memories of devouring these luscious lychees, enjoying the process of peeling the red covering and then de-seeding the white juicy pulp with the sweet nectar flowing down my elbows. The lychees always needed to be refrigerated for some time to enjoy them even more. Enjoying lychees in Summer time was such a ritual that I never realized that some of the best lychees are found in Calcutta. This realization was conveyed to me by my dear friend Afsana who hails from Bombay. According to her lychees in Bombay are horribly expensive and not as plump and juicy as the ones we find here. Now, I believe in every word on fruits that comes out from Afsana's mouth because she knows them in and out. It was while staying in Hostel that I realized how good she is in picking fruits from the market. She would touch, smell, ponder on them and then buy. She would know how to select a fruit, how to find out if its good or bad at an age where I didn't bother about fruits or vegetables. She would talk about the benefits of eating fruits and encourage spending money on a fruit than other junk food. She truly is my Fruit Guru. 

Vaanya, my daughter, has been waiting for Summers to relish Mangoes. Just before the Mango season started she asked me if it was Summers because she knows she can eat the fruit only in that season. This season she has equally, if not more, enjoyed the Lychees. During our vacations in Allahabad, she relished on the peeled, de-seeded and refrigerated lychees that I would very fondly prepare for her almost every day. 

Seasonal fruits itch me to put my hands on desserts and this season I wanted to experiment with the lychees. I started with the super easy Sorbet and found it extremely refreshing and a perfect palate cleanser. It just washes down your gut with that lingering taste of the sweet lychees and the lemon and makes you crave for more. 

Do try this recipe at least once for its a keeper. I plan to try out the same with a pack of readymade lychee juice for some non- seasonal indulgence. Shall update it here with the experiment soon. Till then enjoy the real thing. 

Ingredients : 

• 8-10 peeled and de-seeded Lychees
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1 tbsp lemon juice

Procedure : 

Put lychees, sugar and water in a pan and bring it to a boil. Once sugar dissolves, turn heat off and allow the mixture to cool.

With a hand blender, blend the lychees in the pan.
Stir in the lemon juice. 

Strain the mixture and transfer to a container and freeze for 3-4 hrs. 

Take out and with a fork break the crystals and put the container back to the freezer. Repeat this 3-4 times. 

Serve and enjoy. 

Note : Try adding grated ginger to the pan with lychees and then blend them all and freeze as per the above instructions. 

Happy Sorbet-ing

Amrita

Profiteroles-my affair with the French pastry

A month has flown by and its time to share a sweet something for my 'Sweet day'. 

Vaanya has turned 3 years and 1 month old. We had the most amazing birthday celebration for her 3rd birthday in Lucknow with family. The theme was Mickey mouse clubhouse as it is her new fetish. Kids and adults of the family joined in to decorate the house and have a Clubhouse party. From the food to the games, every little detail was planned collectively a month back. I tried my hands on a Surprise Mickey mouse cupcake and shared here for my last Sweet day. You can view the fun we had through some pictures that I shared here. 

Today I planned to share something that I have attempted various times for family and simply love the texture of this unique pastry called Choux pastry(pronounced shoo pastry) This is a classic french pastry which is first made on the stove and then baked in the oven. The pastry has an amazing crispy,buttery and extremely light texture. The Choux pastry can be used to make Cream puffs, Profiteroles or even Eclairs where the basic mixture is piped in different shapes and baked. 

Having tried this recipe several times, I have realized the importance of technique which is solely responsible for success in this pastry. It is a very simple pastry but only if you follow the instructions carefully otherwise you can end up with a flat disc of baked dough. The pastry is supposed to puff up in the first few minutes of baking getting the quintessential crinkles on top and then it is given further time in the oven to get cooked from inside. 

Once mastered, this pastry will become your favourite and will win many weak 'sweet' hearts. In the past I have also tries a Savoury variation in this pastry with some savoury fillings. 

Ingredients : Makes about 10-12 profiteroles

• 1/4 cup +2 tbsp water
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature 
• 2 egg, room temperature
• 1/4 cup +2 tbsp all purpose flour
• 2 tbsp powdered sugar
• a pinch of salt

Procedure :

First things first : 

• Preheat oven to 200 degree Celsius
• Sift all purpose flour, salt and sugar and keep aside
• Beat the eggs lightly and keep aside
• Line the baking tray with an aluminium foil, lightly greased and keep aside

Now take butter and water in a pan and bring it to a rolling boil. Remember to use butter at room temperature otherwise the butter will take longer to melt and by then the required quantity of water will reduce due to evaporation. 

As soon as it starts to boil, take it off heat and dump the flour,salt and sugar mixture into it. Mix well. 

Put it back on low heat and let the mixture attain a dough like consistency, mixing all along. Do not let the flour mixture scald. 

Take it off heat and allow to cool. Keep checking, when you can touch the bottom of the pan with your finger you are ready for the next step. 

Add a tbsp of the beated egg and mix. Keep adding a spoonful or two and mix. Do not dump in the entire quantity of egg as the size varies which can change the consistency.

You need to achieve a consistency where when lifted with a spatula, the mixture falls off in 3-5 secs in a 'V' shape. Do not add any more egg , once this stage is achieved.

Put the mixture in a ziplock bag or a piping bag and snip off one end. 

Make rough round shapes around 2" diameter on the prepared baking tray(lined with aluminium foil)

If there are any pointy ends, smoothen with a wet finger. 

Put the baking try in the oven and bake on the same temperature(200 degree Celsius) for 10 mins. DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN. This is because in the first ten minutes the pastry puffs up in the hot oven and opening the oven door in between can prevent a good rise of the pastry.

Check if your pastry has risen well otherwise give a little more time. 

Now reduce the oven temperature to 176 degree Celsius and let the pastry cook for 15-20 minutes. The oven temperature is reduced to ensure that the pastry gets well cooked from inside. 

Take them out and allow to cool. But while they are still warm make horizontal slits on the sides for hot air to escape.

You can also cut the pastry in half to make room for any filling. 

Your pastry is ready for infinite number of fillings. I have used a whipped cream filling which I have just piped in with a star nozzle. 

Drizzle or spread a generous amount of melted chocolate on top for an amazing french pastry experience. 

Happy French pastry indulgence

Amrita

Roasted Beetroot Chaas

Summers is not really my favourite month but Summers have a lot of sweet memory attached to it and remind me of the fun filled and careless childhood days. Summers then meant packing up our bags and traveling by the Sleeper class for 2 nights and reach our heaven haven in Punjab. The Summer vacations was spent running out and playing in the scorching sun and enjoying yummy delicacies made by Nani and Masi's. In those days we had no distraction from the television or the internet and enjoyed our silly games with all cousins. Summer Vacations will truly be the best days of my life!

With Vaanya, my daughter, growing up and soon to join a school, I look forward to give Vaanya a truly wonderful and memorable Summer vacation experience. I hope when she grows up, she will fondly recollect her best days of life with equal enthusiasm.

Summers are also synonymous with cool drinks. Being a Sikh, Lassi was a drink that was always ready at home. My grandmother would ensure that she uses enough milk to set homemade curd which was used generously in Summers. While I always loved my Lassi sweet and thick, others at home loved to gulp down a salty and thin version along with lunch. My grandmothers 'Madhani' was always ready to churn up a yummy cooling Lassi. 

My grandmother also made homemade white butter which now my mother continues to make very diligently. The top layer on milk called 'Malai' collected for a few days was churned to get the pristine white unsalted butter. The water remaining while churning butter was used in her salty lassi which I learnt later is called 'Chaas' in Hindi. Extremely popular esp in the northern part of the country because of its scorching heat in Summers, Chaas is a drink that is not only loved for its taste but for its health benefits too as it cools the body.

This chaas is normally made with boiled beetroot puree but the Baker in me made me experiment with a roasted beetroot version.

Recipe source : Adapted from GoodFood magazine 

Ingredients : For 3-4 servings

• 1 small beetroot, peeled and quartered
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup curd (I used homemade)
• 2 cups water (or more)
• 1 tsp oil
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• few curry leaves 8-10
• 1/4 tsp grated ginger
• 1 green chilly chopped (optional)
• salt to taste

Procedure : 

Preheat oven to 180 degree Celsius. Take a baking tray and line it with aluminium foil. 

Toss the quartered beetroots with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. 

Place on the baking tray and loosely cover with the foil. Let the beetroots roast for 30 minutes. 

Take them out carefully and allow to cool.

When they have cooled down, pulse them in the mixer to make a smooth paste.

Whisk curd and water in a bowl to make a thin chaas. 

Add the beetroot paste to it and mix it well.

Heat 1 tsp oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds. As they splutter, add curry leaves, grated ginger and chopped green chilly. Cook for a minute and then add this to the chaas.

Refrigerate the chaas and serve chilled. 

Notes : 

• You can use buttermilk in place of curd and water.
• You may boil the beetroot in boiling water or pressure cook it, peel the skin and puree it. 

This recipe is part of the exciting ongoing event at Kolkata Food Bloggers called 'Beat the Heat'.

 Enjoy Summers
Amrita