contact

Your suggestions and advice regarding the contents of the blog will be highly appreciated.

or if anyone out there is interested in featuring or promoting their brands, products etc through this blog or asking general questions, please feel free to contact me


Email ID- ritu.sah37@gmail.com
linkedin: linkedin.com/in/ritu-shah
facebook : facebook.com/badcafechefs/
Instagram username: @badcafechefs
check the right side panel for more contact details.

Till then, be GOOD even when you're BAD!!
-BAD CAFE CHEFS

Tawa Spicy butter naan

Yet another classic Indian dish with a spicy Italian twist. I have tried experimenting with some left over oregano leaves, a little dried tomatoes, and the end result was awesome, so thought of sharing this unique recipe. Oregano leaves are primarily used for pizza toppings to enhance its flavor. Hardly did I know it would mix so well with Indian flavours and enrich its taste. We didn’t had any tandoor nearby therefore the only option left was a simple tawa and a grill that we mostly use to roast bread directly on fire. The result was the same as it would have been on a tandoor plus it was easy and less time consuming.

It  was soft, a little sweet and spicy, and hence delicious. Just the way we like.

I served it with paneer palak makhani. The spicy taste of naan went really well with the soft, subtle taste of paneer. You can find its recipe in another of my posts. You may check that out as well if you want to give popular restaurant recipes a healthy twist at home. Enjoy your dish as well as your cooking!!

Ingredients:

Maida (flour):   4 cups(250 grams)

Baking powder:  1 tsp

Baking soda:  ½ tsp

Sugar: 2 tsp

Salt: 1 tsp

Curd: 2 ½  tsp

Milk: ½ cup

Oil: 2 tsp

Butter/ghee- 2 tsp

Oregano leaves- 1 tsp

Dried tomatoes- 2tsp

Basil leaves: ½  tsp

Egg(optional):  1

Method

·         Mix maida, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together. To this mixture add sugar, curd, egg(optional) and milk. (You can use a little water to make it into a soft dough)

·         Coat the dough with oil and cover it with a muslin cloth. (You can alternatively use a wet cloth). Keep aside for  1 hour.

      Divide the dough into small 8-10 balls.  Sprinkle oil and then a pinch of oregano leaves, dried tomatoes and  finely chopped basil leaves  on top.

·          Roll out in the form of a normal paratha. Just keep it a little thick.

·         Spread 1 tsp of water on the top surface and put it on to a tawa. when the top surface becomes slightly brown, turn the tawa upside down on fire. (I used a grill to avoid directly falling on fire if in case it doesn’t stick well on tawa).

·         When it turns brownish, take it out and spread ½ butter/ghee on top. Your spicy butter naans are ready.

unique U

you are just not a name, a profession or an appearance;

you are what you define yourself to be,

an awesome self you always wanted to see.
something close to the vastness of the sea.

From the morning coffee,
to your special hobby,
some books that you love reading in a silent lobby,
to your favorite match of hockey.

it's was all so special,
times when you have been just you,
forgetting the world around,
just listening to your heart's sound.
it's strange, how there are a thousand things that define you
that makes you who you are,
but the world still chooses to see a hundred things you're not!!

P.S. Embrace what makes you unique, you're a miracle in yourself just about to happen.

D.I.Y. MOBILE COVER WITH CLOTH

Bored with old mobile cover?? Try this out. Sometimes I think, I become a lot more creative when I am lazy. I was using a simple diary type mobile cover which was honestly boring so thought of trying my hands out in making it a little creative and it turned out well. All I had at my hands reach was some spare piece of brightly colored cloth, some super glue, and that boring cover. This is what I created out of it, and it was so unique. Its pretty simple to create it, just stick the cloth properly to the rim of your cover with some super glue. You can even border it with a little lace, if it is at your disposal and add a small bow as described in the pictures below. You can pick your favorite piece of cloth in accordance with your mobile size and try it out. So if you like it, DO IT YOURSELF and don’t forget to upload pics of your creation here..so be creative and keep creating!;)

the small bow

HANDMADE CHOCOLATES

Finally the most awaited one is here. If you’re someone like me who is tired of having the usual dairy milk and needs a change, you can try this out. It’s easy to make, and requires just few ingredients. I prefer working with chocolate compounds as they much easy to work with, but you can alternatively use cocoa powder, and cocoa butter.The best part about handmade chocolates is, the choice of ingredients and hence the flavor depends totally on you. If you like dark chocolates you can use more of dark compound. Or if you like white chocolates(something like milkybar) you can even use just the white compound. I personally prefer milk chocolates so I have kept the base ratio of 2:1 constant. Also I like making large quantities  at a time and experimenting with all the flavors. You can store these chocolates for about 2-3 months. I have enlisted most of the flavors below, any suggestions for improvement would be gladly welcomed. Also you can try your own flavors just tell me know how it was? Happy chocolates to youJ

Ingredients required-

·         Milk compound- 500 grams

·         Dark compound- 250 grams

·         Cream- 50 grams

·         Butter- 2 tsp

·         Salt- a pinch

Number of pieces made- 100

Method-
·         Break the two compounds into small pieces, add fresh cream and a pinch of salt to it. Melt all the ingredients together.
·         You can melt them in a oven. Keep it at 800 degree for 1 min and stir well. Or you can try indirect melting. Boil water in a saucepan and keep the bowl of chocolates on it, continuously stirring it.(Be careful chocolates get burned very quickly)
·         Mix your desired flavor to the chocolates and set it on a greased chocolate tray to cool for about 10 min. (you can grease it with butter. also You can try using ice tray if you fall short of chocolate trays)
·         Once it becomes hard take it out and your chocolates are ready. Store it in a cool, dry place. (compounds absorb and release heat very fast, so that they get cooled quickly and also they melt very quickly)

Different flavors you can try are-

1.  Add Rice balls about 10 grams  for the crackle effect
2. Caramelize Sugar in a separate pan and sandwich it in between two layers of chocolate for caramel flavor.
3.  Add freshly grated coconut to the mixture. Or wrap the chocolates in freshly grated coconut for coconut flavor.
4.  Add Nuts and dry fruits like cashew, raisins, almonds, pistachio, peanuts, walnuts etc. to the chocolate mixture for their respective crunchy nuty flavor.
5.  Add cornflakes to get some crunchiness in texture.

1. 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
      

P.S. you can divide the total mixture and add different flavors to different parts.

Eggless Mango Cake with chocolate toppings

In accordance with a friend’s suggestion, here I go with my first blog in making those lovely, delicious recipes which we have been enjoying since long.

Experimentation is what I love so be prepared for all the unique new dishes, and I am sure you’re going to love them.

The best thing about summers, for a foodie person like me are mangoes and what better than chocolates to enhance its flavor. So I tried combining the two and it came out really well. Just perfect for my little sweet craving. And they are comfort food too, so I don’t think twice before starting and it tasted really yum!!

It was moist, soft, rich and really very yummy.

I barely got time to click pictures while making, as my friends were getting impatient to dig into it. Just managed few pics at last. Enjoy your cooking and do let me know how it was?

Prepration time: 20 mins

Cooking time: 30-35 mins

Serves: 12

Calories/serving: 158(approx)

Ingredients required:

Maida (flour): 1 cup(100 gm)

Baking powder- 1 tsp

Baking soda- ½ tsp

Sugar(preferably powdered)- 1 cup

Mango-1 medium size

Oil- ½ cup

Vanilla essence- few drops

For toppings

Chocolate- 10-15 grams

Cream- 4 tsp

Method:

·         Sift maida, baking powder, and baking soda together. Keep aside.

·          Peel the mangoes and make it into a paste.

·         Mix sugar and oil in a separate bowl.

·         Add mango paste to it.

·         When the wet ingredients are mixed well, slowly add the dry mixture of maida, baking powder and baking soda to it. Keep Mixing it continuously.

·         Finally beat all the ingredients together and pour the batter into a greased baking container.  (you can use a little butter for greasing).

·         Grate chocolates on top of it.

·         Bake it in a preheated oven for 30 minutes. Or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean

For toppings:

·         Mix melted chocolate, icing sugar and cream.

·         Mix mango paste, icing sugar and cream.

·         Pour the two mixtures into two different icing bag and you are all set to decorate your cake.

tips-

avoid over mixing as then the cake might sink instead of rising up.

mix it in one direction only. Either from right to left or left to right.

Initially Keep 2 tsp mango paste aside for the toppings.

You can use plastic bag alternatively for pouring in your cream. I had a used milk pouch and it worked the same.

oven fresh

just baked