Shrikhand + Poori = Yum Oh!!!

Shrikhand-Poori is a classic Indian delicacy prepared during fasts and festivals. But I have seen that many people buy readymade Shrikhands from supermarkets or restaurants, whereas, it is by far the easiest dish to make in the kitchen- even amateurs can whip up a bowl of shrikhand. Trust me, once you try this homemade Shrikhand, you will forget the readymade stuff. You will just find for an excuse of a fast to make this shrikhand- but you can make it any day and have it anytime.

And ofcourse, what is Shrikhand without hot, crisp, plump pooris on the side!

This is definitely a winner combination on the table and you will lick the shrikhand bowl clean, for sure :)

Serves: 2-3 persons
 

Ingredients:

For the Shrikhand:

Yoghurt/Curd                                      500 gms or 1/2 litre

Powdered Sugar                                  1/2 cup or as required

Salt                                                      half a pinch

Green cardomom or elaichi powder    1 tsp

Saffron strands                                    few for garnish

For the Poori:

Wheat Flour (Atta)                                       1-2 cups

Salt                                                               to taste

Plain water                                                   to knead

Oil                                                                for deep frying

Method:

• To make the shrikhand, you need to make hung curd.

For the hung curd, take a muslin cloth (preferably) or a clean, plain, white handkerchief (keep a separate one only to make hung curd). Put the curd onto this cloth, make like a potli, tie with a string or rubber-band and place it on a strainer with a bowl underneath. In this process, all the whey and water from the curd drains out, leaving a lump of thick curd which is best for Shrikhand and can also be used in marinades.

 

 

• The curd has to be hung atleast for 8-10 hours to get best results. You can also hang and leave it in the fridge overnight.
 
• In the meantime, take a clean, dry grinder and put a cup of sugar along with cardamom seeds and half a pinch of salt into it. Powder the sugar finely till it looks like dust.
 
• After 8 hours, all the whey is drained out from the curd and you are left with hung curd.

 

 

• To this hung curd, add half a cup of powdered sugar and whisk it well until you get a creamy, smooth texture. Add more powdered sugar if required. Whisk well. Garnish with 1 or 2 strands of saffron and keep in the fridge.

Note- I do not like to add saffron while mixing my shrikhand because it changes the colour and make the curd yellow from white. I like my shrikhand to be white, with just a tinge of flavour from 1 strand of saffron I use for garnish. However, if you want "kesari shrikhand" which is also quite popular, add few strands of saffron while mixing the curd and sugar.

 
• To make the poori, knead the dough.

In a bowl, put the wheat flour and salt and mix with your fingertips. Now add water little by little to knead the dough. The dough should not be too soft nor too hard. Keep to rest for atleast half an hour.

 
• Next, make small balls and roll it out like roti, but smaller- just about 3 inches radius. Roll batches of it- 4 or 5 pooris at a time, so you can fry in batches.

• To fry the pooris, heat enough oil in a kadai on high heat and make the oil very hot. Now reduce the flame to medium. Gently drop your pooris one at a time and fry on both sides. The temperature of oil should not go down, else your pooris will not puff up.

• Drain on a kitchen tissue and serve hot with cold shrikhand.

 

Tweaking tips:

• There are lot of different kinds of flavoured shrikhands available in the market. You can make this at home by adding the desired flavour while mixing your hung curd and powdered sugar.

• Some flavour tweaks that you can give are:

Kesari Shrikhand-    add saffron while mixing.

Rose Shrikhand-       add few drops of rose essence and garnish with dry rose petals for a royal look.

Pista Shrikhand-     either add pista essence or pista powder.

Mango Shrikhand-  add chunky mango pulp.

• However, my suggestion will be to stick to the original recipe which I have given above and enjoy this dish with its original flavours and taste.

 

 

 

 

Happy Cookin' & Keep it stylish!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 





 

    

Palak Pathrani Machchi

 

'Pathrani Machchi' as it is popularly known is originally a Parsi and Bengali delicacy. It is a must-have on every Parsi table during their festival 'Navroz'.

 

Traditionally, it is fish wrapped in banana leaf and steamed. But, my experimental brains and passion to tweak traditional recipes and give it a twist led me to this dish and honestly speaking, it is better than the banana leaf version. Not only does the flavour of spinach contribute to the dish, but here, it can be consumed along with the fish. Yum Oh!

 

This dish essentially has three components- the fresh green masala, fresh pieces of fish and fresh spinach leaves. It is this freshness that makes every dish delicious...rather... "dollycious"!!

 

Serves: 2-3 persons 

 

Ingredients:

 

Note- Pathrani Machchi is made with fresh pomfret fish. It is sliced, marinated and wrapped in banana leaves. Here, I am using boneless fish so that it can be wrapped in the spinach easily and also eaten neatly as a starter (in one/two bites).

Boneless Fish (sole fillet/hammour/any white fish)   500 gms

 

Spinach leaves (Palak)                                                as required

 

For the green chutney:

 

Garlic cloves                              3-4 cloves

Ginger                                        1 inch piece

Coriander leaves (with stems)   1 bunch

Pudina leaves                             1/2 bunch

Grated coconut                           3/4 cup

Green chillies                             2 nos.

Coriander powder                      1 tsp

Pepper powder                           a pinch

Salt                                             to taste

Oil                                              to roast

 

 

 

Method:

• Wash the fish, pat it dry with a kitchen tissue, cut into fairly large chunks (approx 2 or 3 inch piece. The size of the pieces would also depend on the size of your palak leaf). Sprinkle with some salt and crushed black pepper and keep aside.

• Wash the palak leaves individually and make sure it has no dirt or sand on it. Cut off the stems and wipe the leaves dry. Keep aside.

 

 

• For the chutney- heat little oil in a pan and fry all the mentioned ingredients well, including the coriander powder, salt and pepper powder. Fry till the raw smell is gone and you get a nice aroma. Cool and grind this to a thick, coarse paste, but make sure the ginger-garlic are minced well and there are no pieces. Add very little water as possible or no water at all while grinding.

Note- Be careful with the salt because spinach leaves can be quite salty.

 
• Take out in a bowl.

 

 

• Next, on a plate, take a leaf of spinach, put a little bit of the paste on it (like a glue), place a piece of fish on it and put around a teaspoon or more of the paste on the piece of fish to coat it completely, without getting the palak leaf too wet.
 

 

 

• Next, carefully wrap the leaf over the fish. Almost like you are wrapping a gift or parcel.

 

• The wrapped fish will look like this.

 

 

• Similarly, prepare all your parcels and keep it in a single layer in a steamer.

• Steam for 20-25 minutes on medium heat.

• When you see that the spinach leaves have become soft, carefully insert a toothpick into one parcel to check if the fish inside it is cooked. If the toothpick inserts easily without any resistence, you know the fish is cooked.

• Using tongs, carefully lift each parcel and serve on a plate.

• You can either serve it wrapped, or unwrap it and serve.

 

Note- Because spinach leaves soften when cooked, do not use a toothpick to seal the parcel while wrapping. Just wrap it using a little bit of the chutney to seal it if required. However, if you are using a banana leaf, you may have to use a toothpick to seal the parcel.

 

 

Tweaking tips:

• The same recipe is used while wrapping the fish in the banana leaf. That becomes Pathrani Machchi.

• You can use small/medium/large sized prawns (shelled, de-veined and tail removed) instead of fish. Reduce the steaming time to 15-20 minutes in case of small prawns.

• If you are not a seafood lover (well..too bad for you I must say) you can still make this dish. Try using boneless chicken. Cut into chunks- sprinkle salt and pepper- steam or slightly fry in a pan (par cooked). Apply chutney and wrap it in the leaf and steam just like the above stages. Try it and let me know! ;)

 

 

 

Happy Cookin' & keep it stylish!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Thai Prawn Curry

 

 

 

Like most people, Thai cuisine is one of my favourites. The aroma and flavours of the ingredients is very similar to Indian cuisine, yet with a very distinct, subtle flavour.

 

This prawn curry is a treat for all thai food lovers and can be prepared in no time at all!

 

I like to have it like a soup, on its own, but some rice on the side is just perfect.

 

Serves: 3-4 persons

 

Ingredients:

 

 

 

Medium prawns (shelled and de-veined)                         1/2 kg

Snow-peas (optional)                                                       1/2 cup

Coconut milk                                                                   1 tin or 3 cups

Oil                                                                                    2-3 tbsps

Freshly chopped coriander leaves                                   for garnish

For the curry paste:

Lemon grass root                                   1-2 roots

Whole Red chilli (fresh or dried)          1 nos.

Coriander leaves (with the stem)          1 small bunch

Garlic                                                    1-2 cloves

Ginger                                                   2 inch piece

Tomato paste                                        1 tbsp

Lemon rind (skin of the lemon)           1 tbsp

 

Note- Ideally we use kaffir lime leaves instead of the lemon rind, but the rind is easily available in our fridge, so I used it and it is as good as fresh lime leaves.

 

Water (as required)

 

Method:

• Put all the ingredients under the section "for the curry paste" in a food processor or dry grinder and grind to a thick paste with very little water.

• In a pan, drizzle 2-3 tbsps of oil. Add the paste and just fry for a minute.

• Next, add the whole tin of coconut milk and bring to a boil, stirring continuously.
 
• If you are using snow-peas, add it to the boiling coconut milk and cook on simmer.

Note-  Adding snow-peas or any other vegetable like green beans/red pumpkin to this prawn curry will elavate the flavours and gove you a taste of authentic thai cuisine because thai food is all about fresh vegetables and fruits.

• After 5-6 minutes of keeping the curry on simmer and cooking the vegetable, add the prawns and increase the heat to medium.

• Once you add the prawn, it is important not to over-cook it. Once it changes colour and turns pink, you know your prawns are cooked.

• Add salt and taste the curry to alter the flavours. Add a tbsp of lemon juice if required. Check the consistency and add little water if you find the curry is thick and you want it thinner. It can be served a little thick or even thin.

• Cover and boil for 5 more minutes.

• Turn off heat and garnish with a good handful of freshly chopped coriander leaves.

• Serve with a nice bowl of hot, steaming white rice. For a little more authenticity, you can serve up some jasmine rice along with this delicious curry.

 

 

Tweaking Tips:

• You can use boneless chicken cut into cubes instead of prawns here.

• If you do not have lemon grass roots or cannot find it, just increase the quantity of the lemon rind in the paste and add a tbsp of lime juice to the paste while grinding.

• Use a sharp peeler or small grater to grate the lemon rind. If you are using a sharp peeler, just make sure you peel the skin off the lemon and avoid peeling the white layer which is below the skin, as this will make you dish very bitter and will spoil the flavour.

 

 

Happy Cookin' & keep it stylish!!

 

 

 

 

 

 



Murg Kada Masala (chicken with whole spices)

 



A simple dish, with whole spices, quick to make and can be served as a dry starter or as a main dish with roti/chappathi.

Try it once and you'll love it!

 

Serves: 3-4 persons

 

Ingredients:

 

 

 

 

Chicken (bone-in)                                   1 kg

Onion (medium size)                              2 nos. (roughly chopped)

Tomatoes                                                2 nos. (roughly chopped)

Fresh ginger-garlic-green chilli paste    1 tbsp

Curry leaves                                           10-12 leaves

Whole garam masala:

Elaichi                    3-4

Cloves                    3

Cinammon stick    1 stick   

Cumin seeds          1 tsp

Coriander powder                                2 tbsps

Red chilli powder                                1/2 tbsp

Crushed black pepper                          1 tbsp

Salt                                                       to taste

Coriander leaves                                  for garnish

Oil                                                        4-5 tbsps

 

Method:

• Heat oil in a kadai and crackle all the ingredients mentioned under "whole garam masala".

• Add the curry leaves and fry for 2 mins.

• Once the spices are fried well, add the roughly chopped onions along with the ginger-garlic-green chilli paste and fry till the onion changes colour and becomes light brown.



• Add the chicken and fry well. Do not add any water at this stage. Allow the chicken to seal in its own flavours and juices.

• Next, add the tomatoes and mix everything together.
 

 
• Add the coriander powder and red chilli powder and mix well.

• Fry for 5 mins in the masala and add water as required to cook the chicken completely. Also add salt at this stage.
 

 

• Cover with a lid and keep on medium heat until the chicken has cooked well.

NOTE- A good way of checking if the chicken is cooked well is to check the leg piece because the leg piece takes the longest time to cook. Just pierce a knife into the piece and see if the flesh is falling off the bone. If it does, then it has cooked perfectly.

• Once the chicken has cooked, check the consistency of the gravy. Add crushed black pepper.

• At this stage, you can turn off the flame depending on how you want to serve the dish. If you are serving it as a main with roti/chappati/rice, keep the chicken in gravy form. Add water if required.

• If you want to serve it dry as a starter or side dish, just remove the lid of the kadhai and dry out the water completely on high flame for 4-5 mins.

• Take out into a serving dish and garnish with freshly chopped coriander leaves.

 

 



 You can also serve this chicken with aapams or neer dosa for a south-indian menu!

 

 

 

Happy Cookin' & keep it stylish!!

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 



Quick Rabri!

Rabri is a very popular sweet in India, specially in Kolkatta and the Northern regions of India. Traditionally and originally, rabri is basically the residue we get after hours and hours of boiling milk on low flame. This very rich dessert is made by heating sweetened milk in a large open vessel (kadhai). As the layer of cream begins to form on the surface of the milk, it is taken off and kept aside. The process continues until the milk is exhausted. Therefore, rabri is considered to be a very time-consuming and rich dessert- because of the time, energy and resources it takes and also because of its creamy texture.

I love sweets that are creamy and rich, which is why, rabri tops my list. But, because it is so time-consuming, I would always depend on the restaurants and sweet shops, ultimately paying so much money for hardly 4 bites of the sweet, served in a tiny bowl. Sigh!

My love for this sweet and interest to experiment increased when I read a recipe for quick rabri by Tarla Dalal. At first, I could not believe that rabri can be made in this way and that the actual end product will be a rabri. But, there is no harm in trying I thought and if not rabri, this would turn out to be a new sweet dish. No harm.

So, this is "my" version of Tarla Dalal's rabri. I call it "my" version because I have tweaked it (as always) and I believe, frankly, my rabri is simply awesome. Yum Oh!!!

Serves: 5-6 persons

Ingredients:

Full fat milk                                       5 cups + 1 cup
Condensed milk                                 1 cup
Bread slices (crust removed)             2-3 slices
Vanilla custard powder                      3-4 tbsps
Cardamom (elaichi) powder              1/2 tsp
Sugar                                                  2 tbsps
Salt                                                     half a pinch
Roasted almonds and pistachios       as required
Silver varq (optional)                        as required              


Method:

• Take a heavy bottomed, non-stick saucepan and keep the milk to boil on medium heat.

• Remove cardamom seeds from the whole cardamom pods and powder it along with a little sugar. (The sugar helps to powder the elaichi easily)

• Once the milk comes to a boil, simmer the flame and add the condensed milk and keep stirring.
• In the meanwhile, remove the sides of the bread slices and pulse it in the dry grinder or food processor until they become coarsely ground like breadcrumbs. See image below.

 

 

 

• Add this to the milk and stir well. You will see the milk simmering, keep the flame low. Check the sweetness and add sugar. Also add half a pinch of salt.

NOTE- Always add half a pinch of salt to your desserts and half a pinch of sugar to savoury/spicy dishes. As odd as it sounds, it does make a big difference and gets out the best flavours in the dish.

 
• Next, dissolve vanilla custard powder in 1 cup of cold milk and add to the milk.

 

 
• Keep stirring now because the custard powder will thicken the milk, and if we do not stir well at this stage, the milk may stick to the bottom of the pan.

• Once the milk is thickened and is coating the back of the spoon. Add elaichi powder and give it one last stir.

• Turn the flame off and allow this thickened milk to cool a bit at room temperature.

• Transfer it into individual bowls/katoris made of mud or into a serving dish.

• Cover with cling wrap and refrigerate for 6-8 hours.

• In the meantime, slightly roast the chopped almonds and pistachios and keep ready.

• Once cooled, garnish the rabri with silver varq and chopped nuts.

 

 
 
• Put back into the fridge and serve cold.

 

 

 



Happy Cookin' & keep it stylish!!

 

Mutton Cutlets- served with stir fried snow-peas and a shot of tambuli!

Before you get intimated by the name of this dish, relax! This dish is no rocket science, just my way of presenting a couple of simple dishes together as a gourmet platter and getting a little bit of style and variety onto your plates.

The day I put this dish together, my mom had prepared delicious 'tambuli' using 'sambrani leaves', plucked fresh from our tiny garden in the balcony. 'Tambuli' is basically like cocum or sol kadi and it is quite popular in Mangalore, Karnataka (that is where I come from).

Traditionally, 'tambuli' is supposed to be eaten with hot, steaming rice. But I like it more as a drink- it is refreshing, healthy and activates my taste buds. Now, coming back to the inception of this dish- mom had prepared tambuli and I do not prefer eating it with rice. Moreover, I was in mood for some light, yummy gourmet style food- the result of which, is this dish.

 

 

I served the tambuli in a shot glass, just to make it look elegant on the platter. It complimented my juicy mutton cutlets very well and some snow-peas on the side- adding greenery to the plate and healthy too!

 

Let us get to the recipe of each component now.

 

Serves: This platter is one portion. If you wish to serve it like I have, make the number of platters according to your guests. Individually served, this recipe serves 2-3 persons.

 

Ingredients for mutton cutlets:

 

Mutton mince                          1 cup

Onion (medium size)              1 nos.

Potato (medium size)              1 nos.

Bread slices (crust removed)  1-2 slices

Green chilli                             1-2 nos.

Ginger                                     1 inch piece

Garlic (big cloves)                  4-5 cloves

Coriander Leaves                    half a bunch

Salt                                          to taste

Crushed black pepper             1 tsp

Red chilli powder                   1/2 tsp

Cumin (jeera) powder            1/4 tsp

Oil                                          4 tbsps + for shallow frying

 

 

 

Method:

• Boil, peel and mash the potatoes. Keep aside in a mixing bowl.

• Finely chop the onions.

• Using a small grater/food processor, mince the ginger, garlic and green chillies to a fine paste.

• Heat 4 tbsps of oil in a pan or skillet and sauté the chopped onions until they turn pink (translucent/transparent).  

• Add the minced ginger-garlic-green chilli paste and fry for a minute.

• Add the (washed) mutton mince and stir on medium heat.

• The mince will start releasing its own water and juices. Add a bit of salt and keep stirring.

 

• In the meanwhile when the mutton mince is cooking and the water is drying up, take the mashed potatoes in the mixing bowl and add cruched black pepper and a pinch of salt to it.

• Next, take the bread slices (sides removed) and moisten it with little water. Squeeze all the water off by pressing the bread slices in between your palms and add this to the potato. The bread slices will help in binding the cutlets.

• Now, to the cooking mutton mince, add the red chilli and cumin powder and mix well. Make sure that the liquid is completely dried up before turning off the gas.

• Allow the cooked mince mixture to cool a bit. Add this mince to the potato and bread mixture.

• Add finely chopped coriander leaves.

Note- At this stage you can add one egg white to the mixture which will aid in binding. But I made these cutlets without the egg and it turned out perfect. Though I do make another version of cutlets with egg white in it also. But make sure you use only the egg white and not the yolk because that will make the oil in which you fry the cutlets foamy and will also give an eggy odour.

 

• Mix all this with a fork. Once the mixture has cooled, use your clean hands to mix it well and bring it all together.

 

• The mixture will come together like a ball.

• Now take a bit of mixture and shape it into round cutlets. You can even make it a bit oblong shaped or oval shaped.

• Form all the cutlets. Cover with cling wrap and refrigerate it for atleast half an hour before frying. This will make the cutlets firm and easier to fry.

• Heat a little oil in a pan, enough for shallow fryng. Place the culets slowly into the oil in a single layer. Make sure you do not over-crowd the pan and fry the cutlets in batches.

• Once it has fried on one side, gently flip it over and fry for 2-3 minutes on the other side.

• Drain it on kitchen tissue.

 

For the tambuli you need:

 

Whole cumin seeds             3/4th tsp

Green chilli                         1 nos.

Sambrani leaves                  10-12 leaves

Grated fresh coconut           1/2 cup

Curd (thick)                         1/2 cup

Salt                                      to taste

 

For tempering the tambuli (tadka):

 

Oil                                       2-3 tbsps

Whole dry red chilli            1 nos.

Urad dal                               1/4 tsp

Mustard seeds                      1/4 tsp

Curry leaves                        7-8 leaves

• Dry roast (without oil) whole cumin seeds, green chilli. Add the sambrani leaves. When it starts leaving water, add grated coconut and roast everything together.

• Transfer this to a blender. Add curd and salt to taste and gring everything well to a smooth paste.

• Prepare the tadka by heating oil in a pan, crackle the mustard seeds. Add urad dal and dry red chilli and at the end add the curry leaves.

• Pour this tadka over the prepared tambuli.

• Serve hot, at room temperature or cold.

Alternatively, you can substitute the sambrani leaves with curry leaves. Just follow the same procedure as above, but use 1/2 cup of curry leaves instead of sambrani leaves while roasting.

 

For the stir fry snow-peas:

• Boil water in a vessel. Put some salt into the boiling water. Add the snow-peas and boil for only 1-2 minutes until tender.Drain the water and immediately immerse the snow-peas in cold water to retain the color. This technique is also called 'blanching.'

• In a pan, put only 2 drops of oil and once the pan is hot, take out the snow-peas from the water and toss it in the hot pan. Sprinkle a little salt and black pepper powder and toss it for another 2 minutes.

 

Tweaking Tips:

• You do not have to serve this platter as it is. Try out the individual recipes. The tambuli can be had with rice; the mutton cutlets as a starter or side dish and the stir fry vegetable as a bowl of greens by the side to add balance and flavour to your meal.

• If you do not have snow-peas or it isn't available, try the same stir fry using fresh brocolli, spinach, green beans or any vegetable of your choice that is full of flavour even if eaten on its own. Follow the procedure as above for any vegetable you choose.

• The tambuli can be substituted by serving a shot of rasam, cocum kadi or even a simple mint lassi by the side.

• Mutton mince can be substituted with chicken mince or even tinned tuna. For a vegetarian version, use some mashed paneer.

• If the mixture feels a little loose or wet, just break in one egg white (use only the white for binding as using the whole egg will make the cutlets eggy and will also make the oil in which you are frying foamy). If you do not want to add egg, use few tbsps of plain flour (maida).

 

 

Happy cookin' & keep it stylish!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 



 

Dark Chocolate Moussé... and quick!

I love chocolates and for me a dessert made of chocolate 'has to be' smooth, luscious and oh so chocolatey. Any compromise made with the quantity or quality of chocolate in a choco-dessert is a strict no-no for me.

 

Chocolate Moussé has got to be one of my all time favourite desserts, but I was never making it at home before because I was apprehensive of using raw eggs in my cooking, moreso in my dessert.

 

And then, one day, when the cooking angels were smiling at me, I came across a recipe of 'quick chocolate moussé by one of my favourite chefs, Nigella Lawson (oh, I really love her and her style of cooking...and eating). This recipe caught my interest because (besides being Nigella's recipe ofcourse) it had NO eggs in it! Awesome!

 

Though the original belongs to Nigella Lawson, I have tweaked it a bit according to my preference without compromising on the taste of the moussé. And hey! I must say, Nigella would be really proud to eat my moussé because it turned out just right.

 

This is my version of dark (quick) chocolate moussé. Here you go.

Serves: 4 moulds for 4 persons.

Ingredients:

 

Dark Chocolate (70% cocoa)                           1 cup

Sweet or semi-sweet chocolate chips               1/2 cup

Soft butter (at room temperature)                     1/2 cup

Big Marshmellows                                        3/4 cup or 7-8 pieces

Cream                                                            1 tin or 160 g

Plain water (a little warm)                                1/2 cup

 

 

Method:

 

• Chop the dark chocolate into small bits. Take a non-stick saucepan and combine together the dark chocolate, chocolate chips, butter, marshmellows (if big, cut into pieces just to speed up the melting process later) and water.

 

• Keep the saucepan on medium heat and stir gently.

• You will see that the chocolates are starting to melt and getting incorporated with the butter and water.

• Slowly the marshmellows will also start melting. Keep stirring gently to avoid it from sticking to the pan.

 

• Once you see that the marshmellows have melted completely (it may take some time, so have patience :) ) and you have now got a smooth chocolate mixture (control your temptation of licking the wooden spoon or eating this mixture straight from the saucepan.. haha!), turn the gas off.
 
• Take a mixing bowl (preferably a glass bowl which is heat-proof) and empty the tin of cream.

• Pour the smooth chocolate mixture onto the cream and just stir it all gently. Ideally, I would use the term 'folding in' here, but thankfully this recipe does not need that level of cooking expertise. So, I will leave the folding in for another day and another recipe where we will use that technique.

• So once you are done with gently mixing the cream and chocolate mixture and you now have got one, uniform, brown chocolate mixture, pour this mixture slowly into a serving dish or individual moulds/shot glasses/ramekins- choose whatever suits you. Just keep in mind that smaller portions are better when you serve this moussé, as this is a rich, heavy dessert and nobody would be able to eat more than 4 spoons.

 

• I chose individual glasses as it looks classy and makes for beautiful presentation.
 
• Allow it to cool at room temperature and then cover with cling wrap and keep it in the fridge to chill for atleast 4-5 hours or more. Please do not try hurrying with the chilling process and do not put the moussé  in the freezer. Again, have patience :)
 
• After 4 hours, test if the moussé has set by taking the mould and shaking it gently. If there is no wobble, then you know your moussé has set and ready to be served to your guests or devoured by you ;)

 

 

 

• Voila!! There you have it, a spoonful of sinful goodness.

 

Tweaking Tips:

 

•  If you are not a fan of the taste of dark chocolate which is usually bitter, you can use 1 cup sweet chocolate chips instead of 1/2 cup and reduce the quantity of dark chocolate from 1 cup to 1/2 cup.

• Alternatively, if you do not have or cannot find chocolate chips, feel free to use regular milk chocolate like Cadbury Dairy Milk (plain) or any milk chocolate that is available.

• The marshmellows are used here instead of eggs to set the and give it the desired texture.

• Incase you have not eaten marshmellows before and are not comfortable with the idea of using it in your cooking, please don't let that stop you from trying out this moussé. You can still make it without the marshmellows. Just use plain gelatin (now available in all the supermarkets). We even get vegetarian versions of gelatin now. Just use it in this dish according to packet instructions and you are good to go!

• Always use a wooden spoon to mix and stir chocolate or any dessert or sweet-dish and use a wooden spoon specially while using a non-stick vessel.
 
• The original recipe calls for whipped cream to be mixed along with the chocolate mixture. But, I have used tinned cream because it is easily available and does not have to be whipped using a fancy electric beater. However, if you wish, you can buy the whipping cream from the supermarket and whip it with 3 tbsps of sugar and a pinch of salt until you get soft peaks. The tinned cream does not take away from the texture of the moussé- rest assured :). And I will deal with the technique of 'whipping cream' in my later blogs.

 

 

Happy cookin' & keep it stylish!!