Orangylassi

Few things you'll need :
2-3 tsp of sugar (depending on the sweetness of your orange juice)
1/2 cup orange juice
2-3 tbsp of curd
pinch of salt
a few fresh mint leaves and a slice of lemon for garnish.

An easy method to get started with:
(I know kitchen is not the best place to be in, during summers ;P)

Mix curd and sugar in a blender well
Add 1/2 cup of orange juice to it. Blend again. Add a pinch of salt and it's done. Garnish with mint leaves and a slice of lemon to give it a finishing touch..

An easy breezy refreshing drink to get you going in this scorching heat..

Beat the heat
Enjoy,
Ritu

Our Heart always knew..!

vanilla_coffee_mousse

Hey all..!!

In this super busy schedule of mine, I just managed to make this mousse. Actually I really wanted to make it, since a long time. Yeah you can blame it on my laziness again..

I was just racking my head to collect data for my research paper and honestly, didn’t have more than 30 mins to spare and that would include cleaning too. :P I finished the cooking part in less than 15 minutes and then kept it in the fridge for the next 15 minutes to cool. So if you are in a super-hurry mode like me and have nothing at your disposal, you can make this quick dessert and get back to work. (Okay, don’t stare at me, all the files are loading and hence I have few more minutes to write this article :P)

All I found in my kitchen was:

·         Vanilla flavoured cornflour- 2 tbsp

·         Plain cornflour- 2 tbsp

·         Milk- ½ litre

·         Coffee powder- 1 tsp

·         Fruits (banana, apple, grapes, pomegranate)

·         Nuts (cashew, pistachio, peanuts, almonds, raisins).

·         Chocolate cornflakes- few

·         Khoya to garnish

·         Powdered sugar/ confectionary sugar- 6-8 tbsp

(you can use fruits and nuts of your own choice)

 Started with the cornflour first, make a semi-liquid paste by mixing plain cornflour with 2-4 teaspoons of cold milk (even room temperature would be fine).  similarly in another bowl mix the vanilla flavoured cornflour with milk.

Put the remaining milk on flame and add powdered sugar to it. Pour half of it to another container and add coffee powder to this part only.

When the milk just starts to boil add vanilla-flavored cornflour paste to it, stirring continuously so that no lumps are formed.

Similarly add plain cornflour paste to the coffee mixture, stirring it continuously as well. Custard cream is ready. Both of them must be looking very creamy and yum. Wait a little more before you dig in.

I got hold of a glass to serve, in the base make a layer with chopped fruits followed by vanilla flavoured custardcream.  Gently sprinkle chocolate cornflakes over it, then put coffee flavoured custard cream on top. Sprinkle chopped nuts and slice of khoya barfi to garnish. Cool for some time and It’s ready to dig in.

Sweet-tooth forever, Pampering Myself,  Thank me later:)

she knew, she had grown up..!

In between hiding her tears and faking a smile, she grew up.

As an independent woman that she was,

She knew she could cry like a kid but choose to keep silent,

Patiently waiting to see what life has got to offer.

In between full filing everyone expectations,

To loosing on her high dreams, she grew up.

All she ever wanted was to conquer the world,

But she could feel her wings being tied with chains, she never knew existed.

In between getting judged for things she had no control over,

To making them realize their mistake, she grew up.

In between trying to adjust with the societal definition of pretty,

To being comfortable in her own skin, she grew up.

Pretty or not, she knew she was beautiful indeed.

In between being an innocent, weak kid

To raising a voice against all the wrongs she observed around, she grew up.

 She has conquered her fears slowly but steadily.

In between reading a thousand quotes to inspire her,

To trying to implement all those, she grew up.

She thought her life would be a happy one, following those quotes

But what she didn’t realize was, ‘ceteris-paribus’ cannot be taken for granted.

 In between going alone for movies and restaurants, she grew up.

Oh no, she wasn’t lonely, but she didn’t choose to be alone either.

 She was just another ‘happy go lucky girl’ who started enjoying her own company.

She realized the only person who will be there for her always is herself.

In between cribbing for toys, chocolates and icecreams,

To managing all her finances, she grew up.

Materialistic things don’t seem to impress her now, real emotions still do.

In between trying to please everyone,

To turning a deaf ear to “log kya kahenge”, she grew up.

People who matter don’t judge and people who judge no longer matters.

A thousand incidents made her grow, but the day she choose to fight against all odds,

To be optimistic and to take full control of her life, she knew she had grown up.

All geared up to be an example setter for the world to follow.   

                                                                                              -RITU

Chocolate mickey mouse cake

Preparation time- 30 mins

Cooking time-40 mins

Frosting time-10 mins

Servings-12

Cals-680

Ingredients

·         1 cup all-purpose flour

·         1 cup powdered sugar

·         3 tablespoon cocoa powder

·         ½  teaspoon baking powder

·         ½ teaspoon baking soda

·         1 pinch salt

·         2 eggs

·         ¼  cup vegetable oil/softened butter

·         1 cup milk

·         ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

For frosting

Ø  1 cup heavy cream

Ø  1 cup+4 tablespoon icing sugar

Ø  4 tablespoon cocoa powder

Ø  2 tablespoon butter

Ø  3 tablespoon milk

Ø  10 cherries

Method

v  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Grease a mickey mouse shaped cake pan well.

v  In a large bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

v  In another bowl, mix butter and sugar. Add eggs (one by one), and continue mixing it in the mixture. Add milk as required followed by vanilla essence.

v  Add the sieved dry ingredients slowly into the wet mixture and beat until well blended. Pour it in the pre greased cake pan.

v  Bake for 35 minutes, or until wooden toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Loosen edges, and remove to racks to cool completely.

Frosting:

      Combine whipping cream and confectioner's sugar in a chilled medium bowl. Beat with an electric mixer at high speed until stiff peaks form. Pour it in piping bag.

      Melt 2 tablespoon butter in the saucepan, add 4 tablespoon sugar to it. when sugar dissolves add 4 tbsp cocoa powder to it followed by 3 tbsp milk to get a thick frosting. Spread this frosting evenly on the cake with the help of a spatula. I have even cut the cake in two halves to spread it in the center.

      Outline the mickey mouse with whipped cream and top it with cherries. let the frosting set for a while. I kept it overnight. your cake is ready to serve.

Tiramisu

Tiramisu is an authentic coffee-flavoured Italian dessert. When literally translated it means “cheer me up” or to put it in a better way “make me happier”, and this will indeed be your best ever dessert. In the classical recipe they use ladyfingers dipped in coffee, layered with a whipped mixture of eggs, sugar and mascarpone cheese, flavoured with cocoa. Since these are classic ingredients which are not easily available in India, am going to give it an Indian twist making it more desirous for the Indian palate.

This dessert has got 4 components. Starting with the vanilla sponge layer at the base, followed by coffee cream then orange jelly and finally garnished with cinnamon and honey flavoured custard on top. I have served this in edible chocolate bowl infusing the rich cocoa flavor also in this dessert. All the flavours bust in your mouth giving you a heavenly taste and that’s exactly what makes this dessert so special.

Unlike my other recipes, I am not going to tell you this is an easy one because it requires a lot more time and patience as compared to all the desserts I have made till date. But trust me! it’s worth all the pain. You just can’t go wrong when you have got a perfect tiramisu on the table. It’s simply awesome. You only need few key essentials to get one of the most popular Italian desserts right.

   

If I start enlisting how to make each component this is going to be never ending post. So to make things simpler, I have written separately how to make each component elaborately. Refer to the links given below to it perfectly.

For chocolate sponge cake - https://badcafechefs.blogspot.in/2016/07/eggless-choco-coffee-cake.html?m=1

you can also get outside cake to make things simpler. cut it in small cubes. It makes perfect sponge base. brush it with coffee liquor on top.

For coffee flavoured cream- https://badcafechefs.blogspot.in/2016/10/coffee-flavored-whipped-cream.html

Put cream on top of the sponge base. This forms your second layer of the dessert, from the base.

For orange jelly https://badcafechefs.blogspot.in/2016/10/orange-jelly-with-whipped-cream.html

skip the cream and cut in small squares for this dessert. put it on top of the cream making the third layer.

And finally for cinnamon and honey flavoured custard- https://badcafechefs.blogspot.in/2016/10/cinnamon-and-honey-flavoured-custard.html

the top layer consists of custard cream.

note- the layers made with coffee whipped cream and custard cream can be interchanged as per your convienence.

Chocolate cup (optional)- https://badcafechefs.blogspot.in/2016/10/edible-chocolate-cup.html?m=1

you can serve all of these in edible chocolate cup, to give it a finishing touch.

Your perfect cup of tiramisu is ready. Serve chilled and garnish it with rice balls, nuts and cookies.

Edible Chocolate cup

chocolate cups forms a perfect base for any dessert. I have served tiramisu in chocolate cups. you can flexibly use it for other servings too. Not only they look tempting but also adds rich cocoa taste to your dessert. Tastes best with creamy desserts.

All you require is some melted chocolate and paper or plastic cups to give it a shape. Refer to my post on chocolates (https://simplyritu.blogspot.in/search?q=chocolates) to melt chocolate perfectly.
once the chocolates have melted pour it in cups. with the help of a painting brush layer it smoothly all around the cup.

 

cool the cups for about 1 hour or till the chocolate turns hard. cut and remove the plastic slowly from the sides without breaking the cup. Do this step really careful as the cup may break if its not hard enough. Grease the cups with unsalted butter before pouring in melted chocolate to remove plastic easily.

custardcream in chocolate cup

Coffee flavored whipped cream

Whipped cream does deserve a special place on my blog since I use it almost everywhere, in all my desserts. It makes them even more tasty and appealing. But whipping cream is not all that easy.  It should beaten well to give a good texture but not overbeaten as then, it may curdle to form butter. chilled cream, beaters and ice around the whipping bowl works best for me. If you don’t want the coffee flavor, you can replace it vanilla essence or any other flavor you like. Enjoy this whipped cream on your favorite dessert.

coffee flavoured whipped cream

Ingredients

§  1 cup heavy cream

§  2 tea spoons coffee powder

§  4-5 tea spoon powdered sugar

Method

1.     In a large bowl, whip cream till its half done then add coffee powder and powdered sugar to it. Beat with hand beater or mixer at medium speed until soft peaks form (avoid overbeating as then it may turn into butter).

Tip:

chill cream, bowl and beaters before using.

To get faster results put another bowl containing ice below your whipping bowl. So that it remains cold throughout whipping process and does not separate easily. 

Serve cream on fruit, dessert or ice cream sundaes.

CINNAMON AND HONEY FLAVOURED CUSTARD

Serves-4

Preparation time-10 mins

Cooking time- 10 mins.

cinnamon and honey flavoured custard, topped with nuts

Ingredients

a)      ½ litre milk

b)      3 teaspoons custard powder

c)       1 Cinnamon stick

d)      2 teaspoons sugar

e)      5 teaspoon honey

f)       Chopped nuts to serve

Method

1)      In 5-6 teaspoon of cold milk, mix 3 tsp of custard powder and keep aside.

2)      Boil milk in a thick bottom pan. Add sugar to it.

3)      When it reduces to ¾ of the original quantity, add custard paste to it (that we have made earlier).

4)      Grind 1 cinnamon stick well and add to the mixture.

5)      Finally add honey to it. stir briskly on medium flame for 2-3 mins or till you get the desired consistency. Serve chilled.

Add caption

6)      Sprinkle nuts or chocolate flakes to serve.

cinnamon and honey flavoured custard with chocolate flakes and rice balls

ORANGE JELLY WITH WHIPPED CREAM

If you are someone who love jellies but not the colour or preservatives that is usually added to it, you can try this homemade version of it. It’s easy enough and can also be used as a component in other recipes. It tastes better with a little orange, lemon zest and whipped cream.

Serves-4

Preparation time- 15mins+ 1 hour to set

orange jelly with whipped cream

Ingredients

1. 2 cups Orange Juice – (squeeze around 6 medium sized oranges)
2. 10 grams Unflavored Gelatin
3. 1/4 cup Sugar (optional)
4. Whipped cream (to serve)

Instructions

1. Mix 1/4 cup orange juice and gelatin. Allow to rest for a minimum of 10 minutes as gelatin soaks up juice and swells.
2. Add the remaining juice to this gelatin mixture and stir briskly on medium flame for about 1-2 mins till you get a uniform clear liquid and gelatin has completely dissolves.
3. Add sugar if required(depending on the sweetness of orange juice)
4. Pour into serving dish and allow to set for 1 hour.

Serving

·        Tastes better when served with orange zest and whipped cream.

China Wok

The importance of food in understanding human culture lies precisely in its infinite variability, its different cuisines and Chinese food is definitely a must try always.

In Chinese we say, "Eat in Guangzhou, dress in Shanghai, eat and dress in Wuhan."

Well, I am enjoying the beautiful pandals of Kolkata. But a part of me also craves for some authentic Chinese food. Being far from these places I took a foodie halt at China Wok, Kolkata.

Rating:

Food-3/5

Ambience-3.5/5

Location-4.5/5

Location- 37/1, Purna Das Road, Hindustan Park, Kolkata

Cuisines- Chinese, Thai

Known for- Pan Asian cuisine

Timings- 12:30pm to 10:30pm

Alcohol- No

Ambience-Cozy, trendy,

 Both Indoor and outdoor seating available.

Meal for two- 800(approx)

Wifi-NO

@ China Wok

Located in the heart of the city, near Hindustan Park, this place is known for its Thai and Chinese cuisine. We went to try this place during the puja time when undoubtedly there was a huge rush. The indoor seating arrangement is made on the first floor with not more than 4 tables, having a total seating capacity of approx 20 people. The interiors are well lighted, cozy and comfortable with famous quotes all around. The waiters are friendly and ready to help always.  But I was disappointed to see the stairs that led to it. It was too small.

This place doesn’t provide a sophisticated seating on the outdoor as well. It has only 2 tables under an umbrella, with an approx seating capacity of 6 people.

Quotes All Around

All my annoyance melted on timely arrival of our first dish VEG HAKKA NOODLES. It was delicately sprinkled with spices and veges. Flavourful enough to transport me back to the land of china. Though the quantity seemed a little less to me but its taste made up for all the disappointment.

Rating for veg hakka noodles- 5/5

veg hakka noodles

Along with it we had ordered DICED CHICKEN WITH OYSTER SAUCE which was equally amazing. It was indeed a delightful treat. The oyster sauce was rich, flavourful and had the right consistency. Chicken was also equally balanced in flavours and overall it tasted yum.

Rating-5/5

diced chicken with oyster sauce

Next we ordered SINGAPORE RICE NOODLES. It was undoubtedly good but I was expecting more by now. It was appropriately sprinkled with vegetables. Rice noodles where well cooked as it should be, so I can safely give it a rating of 3.5/5

Rice Noodles

Along with this we had ordered a THAI RED CURRY. The waiters had informed us earlier that it would be spicy but it turned out to be too sweet. I doubt, if they had used a lot of coconut to cook it thus adding to its sweetness. We were utterly annoyed. The idea of a sweet curry does not suit our palate at all.

Rating-1/5

Thai Red Curry

Cost-₹ 1110 for this experience is not applauded by me therefore I don’t find it pocket friendly as well.

Final rating- 3/5 

BON APPETIT CAFE!!!!

 When lip smacking food meets with cozy interiors and genuine hospitality the place becomes a must visit for every foodie person out there.

Bon appétit everyone!!

Ratings-

Food-4.8/5

Ambience- 4.5/5

Location-3.5/5

an open-to-sky ceiling. 

 Location-

Bon Appetit: 109/26 Hazra Road, Kolkata: 700 026
Located in bylanes of old south Calcutta, this place is a branch of successful saltlake based cafe.

Cuisine- Italian, deserts

Known for-deserts

Meal for two: 300

Timings: 11 am to 8.30 pm

Alcohol: No

Ambience-youngsters, family, cozy, trendy

Parking available

Decor
If an open-to-the-sky with no air conditioning and colourful plastic crockery is comfortable for you, there’s a lot to notice in the decor. The entrance focuses on the self service counter along with a wall of fame jazzed up with Audrey Hepburn from "Breakfast at Tiffany". The interiors looks amazing with chequered floors, swings hanging from metal chains as tables, diced shaped small chairs(be careful not to choose them if you are tall:P), a swing chair in one corner,  framed mirror reflections on the wall, and the lovely faux grape vines hanging from the wooden beamed ceiling.

The Ambience

The Entrance

Experience

It was last Saturday that three of my friends and I met up to have lunch at Bon Appétit café in Hazra. To find the eatery itself was a task as it is located in an unassuming corner of a rather confusing and narrow lane on Hazra road. Added to it was the delay we had due to an untimely drizzle. We had planned on that place not only out of curiosity but also because we had indeed been influenced by the rave ratings about their food. The name being the big draw obviously. But I must say I was disappointed on reaching there, for the place was too small and half of the seats too little for people of even the average height.

 Nonetheless, we decided to stay and placed our orders- self help is the only way there, nobody is going to hand you over even a glass of water. Our annoyance with the place strangely melted away on the arrival of the food. Four of us had ordered four different dishes and the first to be served was corn and mushroom pasta. Absolutely filling, the dish was loaded with rich, flavourful spices that tastes amazing too. There was no lack of generosity on the sprinkling of the mushrooms and corn which undoubtedly added to its taste.

veg pasta with mushroom, corn and tomato sauce

Then came the thick, gooey and cheese-filled to the core herbed chicken crepes with mustard sauce. It was followed by the tastiest dish we had that day- chicken and corn crepes with a tangy sauce that could take your heart away. For spice lovers like us both of them were just too delicious, they were accompanied by potato chips as well to give it a perfect crunch. The fourth dish was a very thin crust salami and chilli pepper pizza which was a little too sour for those with no sour tooth, this one seems a little off  the self  but overall

 I could safely give the food 4.9 out of five. All the inconvenience we had on reaching the place or in its seating arrangement was sufficiently covered up with the wholesome and overtly tasty food!

our orders for the day!!

chicken crepe with pesto cream

thin crust salami pizza

 We ended our meal with the gorgeous chocolate avalanche which consisted of a hot brownie in the middle surrounded by ice cream all around. All of these costed around Rs 760. Such amazing food at this pocket friendly rate- you couldn't ask for more with regards the culinary experience.

the chocolate avalanche

till I revisit the place..

P.S.   special thanks to angana bhattacharya for her extended review and those lovely clicks :)

https://www.facebook.com/angana.bhattacharya